California House Cleaning Solves WV Ring Mystery

Anni Mallison didn't know when she retired as transportation director of California's San Dieguito Union High School District that a long-avoided cleaning chore would spawn a mystery that would connect her with a family from West Virginia.

She found a 1984 Oceana High School class ring among her husband's numerous collections.

"I found the ring when I finally got around to cleaning out my husband's curio cabinet that has been gathering dust for the past 20 years!" she said. "Rocky (her husband) worked on so many job sites, he said he couldn't remember where he found it."

Shortly after 1984, Rocky Mallison had worked various commercial electrical jobs, including work on Camp Pendelton and the Marine Corps Recruit Depot in San Diego, Calif., she explained.

"Oceana High School circled the facets of the brilliant blue stone and the name ‘Jeff' leaped out from the side of the ring," Mallison described the ring. "From the two sides of the ring, I deducted ‘Jeff' graduated from high school in 1984, played forward on the basketball team and shortstop for his baseball team.

"As I looked deeply into the stone, a handsome side view of an Indian Chief, in full feathered war bonnet, was faintly visible.

"Inside the ring was inscribed ‘Jeff McGraw'," Mallison said.

"I was very curious about Oceana High School and assumed it was in California by its name," she added.

"I did find a high school in central California; however, they were not called the Indians. Further down the Google list was Oceana High School, disbanded in 2002 — in West Virginia. Home of the Indians!"

"This lady went online to research Oceana High School, since she never heard of it and found the OHS alumni website I created," explained Jim Cook.

"She found an obituary for Jeff McGraw I had posted on the site, and, since he had passed away, she contacted me to see if I knew of any family in the area," Cook said.

He then put Mallison in touch with McGraw's father, Randy, and stepmother, Maria, who now live in Shenandoah Junction.

"I spent about 30 minutes searching the Internet, and finally found Randy's wife, Maria, on Facebook. Once I found her Facebook page, I was able to send her a message to let her know who I was, that I was an old friend of Jeff's, and that Jeff's class ring had been found in California," Cook explained.

"I have such mixed feelings about this ring," Mallison said. "I am very happy I found the family and they have the ring, but I am so sad they don't have Jeff.

"The ring initially spurred delight when I imagined his surprise and joy at getting it back; but when I found out he had passed away, it seemed so inconsequential and ‘just a piece of jewelry' when compared to a life as a son, husband, and father," Mallison noted.

After the ring had been put in the mail to Jeff's father, Mallison felt slightly better.

"The ring would be returned to the person I assumed paid for it!" Mallison said.

"What is ironic, we received the ring four years to the date that we were told there was no hope for Jeff," Maria McGraw said.

He died of melanoma a short time later.

"We were so delighted to get the e-mail from Jim Cook; Randy was really taken back by the news," she added.

"Jeff lost his ring years ago, when he was in the Marines and he really did not remember where...

"We received the ring with such a beautiful letter, it made Randy and I both cry," Maria McGraw said.

"Randy is keeping the ring for the time being. Jeff had three children — Ashley, Randy, and Jeffrey... the ring will eventually go to his children," she explained.

"I first met Jeff in grade school when our family moved into the house beside the McGraws," Cook recalled. "When we moved a couple of years later, Jeff would meet us at the park to play football and I would see him at school.

"Unfortunately, after high school I went to the Air Force and he went to the Marines, so we lost touch.

"I've been contacted several times in the past by people looking for old school friends and by a few performing genealogy research, but this was by far the oddest request," Cook said.

"I'm just really happy we were able to come through and help get the ring back to the family," he emphasized.

"I think it was pretty neat how she and I used the Internet to return the class ring of a deceased son to his father — from California to West Virginia," Cook said.

"I can now put this story to rest," Mallison emphasized. "We will never know how Rocky came across the ring, but we hope the ring will provide Jeff's family a tiny piece of him that was thought to be lost."