There have been countless stories of Aggies losing their rings in the past, but rarely has there been a story of an Aggie losing his ring more than once.
Stu Arledge, Class of 1986, had three Aggie rings within the span of seven years.
“My first ring was stolen during a total rampage robbery at my home and I ended up misplacing my second ring,” Arledge said.
Soon enough, Arledge replaced his last ring just in time for his 1993 move to Waco. He and some friends had gone to Waco’s Cottonwood Golf Course. Arledge removed his ring and set it on the green before playing, “just to be safe.”
“Ironically, it was then I lost my new ring,” Arledge said. “I went home to realize it was gone and when I returned to the golf course the next day it wasn’t there. I couldn’t think of anywhere else it would rather be.”
Arledge decided he was done with Aggie Rings forever.
“I had given up and decided I was just not destined to have a ring,” Arledge adds. “Three strikes and I’m out.”
Seventeen years later, in 2010, Arledge had relocated in Fort Worth and was in the middle of an important business meeting when a woman from Riesel, Texas called.
“This woman starts asking me a lot of questions about my life and where I’m from,” Arledge said. “Some questions were just so personal that I had to stop her and ask, ‘What’s going on?’ It was obviously not a business call.”
The woman turned out to be Jane Kristen, a former student and employee of Riesel Foster Elementary School. She asked Arledge if he went to Texas A&M to which he responded, “Yes, in 1986.”
“The next thing she asks is if I lost my Aggie Ring … and my heart just stops,” Arledge said.
Arledge said he told Kristen he lost his ring a long time ago. Kristen responded by telling Arledge a fifth-grader in her school, Oreen Rosas, had recovered an Aggie Ring in her grandfather’s backyard in Hewitt. Rosas knew her school’s principal was an Aggie, so she decided to take the ring back with her. The school traced the Aggie Ring to Arledge and contacted him immediately.
“The phone call was a total shock and I nearly fell out of my chair,” Arledge said. “People in the office began to worry about me because I wouldn’t stop jumping up and down and screaming.”
Arledge said he has no idea how his ring ended up in Hewitt, but he immediately identified it as the ring he lost on the Waco golf course.
“[Kristen] offered to mail the ring to my address and I told her, ‘Hell no! I’m getting in my car right now,’” Arledge said.
The event received widespread attention and was even documented by the town’s local news station.
“I met the little girl [Rosas], bought her a teddy bear and said thank you very much,” Arledge said. “The whole event was surreal and I love talking about it. To be reunited with my ring after 17 years is something else.”
Arledge said after the chain of events, he does not wear his ring anymore.
“My dad passed away 11 years ago and I have his ring and my ring displayed on a mantle at home,” Arledge said. “I don’t wear it because I don’t want to lose it again.”
Arledge said he commends the Aggie network for knowing exactly the steps to take when a lost ring is recovered.
“How great is it that an Aggie found my ring and knew exactly what to do, exactly how to contact me?” Arledge said. “Who knows where my other two rings are? But I know they were certainly not recovered by an Aggie.”
