Rita Valentino ’75 lost her URI class ring many years ago. The chances of the ring being found were slim. The chances that the ring would be returned to her were slimmer still. But one family’s efforts flipped the odds.

Rachel Greene’s stepfather found a class ring on a beach in North Carolina more than 20 years ago. He tried unsuccessfully to find its owner but held onto the ring. Since his death 10 years ago, it’s been in Greene’s mother’s safe.

Recently, Greene, an executive assistant at Corning Optical Communications and a resident of Hickory, N.C., decided it was time to try again to find the owner.

The 1975 URI College of Pharmacy class ring had the initials “R.J.V.” inscribed inside. “After finding a URI yearbook online, I looked up pharmacy school graduates from 1975, looking for someone whose name matched those initials,” says Greene. She thought she had found someone, but it was a dead end. Then, determined to give the effort her all, she reached out to URI.

With some research and teamwork—and maybe a bit of luck—URI staff determined that the ring’s owner was Rita Valentino ’75, who had attended graduate school in Chapel Hill. Greene was thrilled that the owner had been found and sent the ring to Kira Mudd, director of alumni engagement at URI.

“Rita was surprised to hear about the ring she had lost so many years ago,” says Mudd. “You read about these types of stories, but it’s really special to be able to participate in one of these meaningful reunions.”

Valentino, a member of the URI College of Pharmacy Advisory Board, is the former director of the Division of Neuroscience and Behavior at the National Institute on Drug Abuse, National Institutes of Health. She was excited to be reunited with her ring on campus during URI’s 2025 Homecoming Weekend.

Valentino is grateful to Greene and her family for all their efforts in locating her, and notes that it is “ironic that this ring is finding its way back to me on the weekend of my 50th reunion.” She adds, “I can’t thank Rachel and her family enough for going through the trouble to locate me and return it.”

–Barbara Caron

PHOTOS: CATHERINE SCOTT