Underwater Adventures

My husband, John Nutt, graduated from Clemson A&M College in 1960 and was given a ring by his parents. The inscription on the inside of the ring read, John N. Nutt, Clemson, S.C.

In 1962 he lost the rind while water skiing on a small lake near Fort Bragg, where he was stationed at the time. Later that year, the lake’s dam broke. Someone found the ring and mailed it to his parents’ home in Clemson. His mother wrapped it and put it under the Christmas tree for him.

On that same Christmas Day as we were returning to our home in Memphis, Tenn., John left the ring on a wash basin in a service station. After traveling about a hundred miles, he realized what he had done. We returned to the station, and the ring was still where he had left it!
About a year after moving to Walterboro, S.C., in 1965, John dropped the ring down the shower drain!! We had a plumber inspect the drain, but no ring. He said we could have the septic tank pumped, but we declined and bought a replacement ring.

Then in November 2004, we began to get phone calls and emails about a septic tank service that was trying to find us. We heard from the Newberry County sheriff’s department, the Clemson Alumni Association, and from friends and acquaintances who saw an ad in The State newspaper about the ring. As it turns out, an employee of the septic tank service had found John’s ring at their sewage disposal site in Jasper County.

After some Brasso and lots of elbow grease, the ring looks pretty good – especially considering where it’s been for the last thirty some odd years!!

– Patsy Nutt, Wife of John Nutt ‘60