Alumnus Art Williams (’79) Reunited with his UH Class Ring
Art Williams (’79) took the better part of 15 years to obtain his electrical engineering degree from the University of Houston; he worked full time to pay his way through college and spent four years in the military during the Vietnam War. It was no surprise then, when Art finally achieved his goal of graduating from UH, that he purchased a class ring to commemorate his accomplishment. Years later, during a family tubing vacation on the Frio River, Art’s daughter fell backwards into the shallow rocky bottom. Fearing she may have hit her head and potentially lost consciousness, Art jumped in to save her. Fortunately, his daughter was uninjured in the incident; however, he quickly realized the class ring he was extremely proud of had fallen off in the river and was likely gone for good. Twenty years later, the University of Houston Alumni Association received a call from Steve Zurr of Hondo, Texas, informing the staff that he had found a 1979 UH class ring at the bottom of the Frio River. He and his wife discovered the ring while snorkeling and hoped its original owner could be located and reunited with the missing ring. With two pieces of identifying information — the ring notated a degree in electrical engineering obtained in 1979 and had the letters “A.O.W.” inscribed on the inside band — UHAA was on the case. The staff culled through records with only these leads and eventually came across one person who held that degree and had similar initials. That person was Art Williams. When contacted by the UHAA, Jean Williams instantaneously knew her husband’s long lost ring had been recovered. She shared the story of how the ring came to rest at the bottom of the Frio River 20 years ago and just how thrilled her husband would be that it had amazingly been found. As he never expected it to be recovered, Mr. Williams is extremely grateful to all those who took the time and effort to help bring his ring, and all the wonderful memories it holds, home.