{"id":39171,"date":"2025-08-27T10:59:38","date_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/?p=39171"},"modified":"2025-08-27T10:59:38","modified_gmt":"2025-08-27T14:59:38","slug":"return-of-the-ring-a-found-furman-ring-reminds-a-family-and-a-community-what-floyd-ellison-60-meant-to-so-many","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/return-of-the-ring-a-found-furman-ring-reminds-a-family-and-a-community-what-floyd-ellison-60-meant-to-so-many\/","title":{"rendered":"Return of the Ring: A found Furman ring reminds a family and a community what Floyd Ellison \u201960 meant to so many"},"content":{"rendered":"

Seventeen-year-old Landen Stoddard often scans the bottom of Lake Keowee for treasures. Sunglasses, random gadgets or any type of trinket will appear through his swim goggles. But on one recent August afternoon, while exploring a shallow cove, something golden caught his eye. At first, he thought it was a bottle cap, but as he brushed away the sand and clay, an inscription came into view: \u201cFurman University, 1960.\u201d<\/p>\n

Landen\u2019s mother, Vickie, knew the ring must hold deep personal value. Before the family even left their lake adventure, she posted a picture on Facebook to find the owner.<\/p>\n

\"A

Clark Hickerson ’17 stands between his grandparents Floyd and Betty Ellison at his graduation in 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u201cIf it were mine, I would be devastated,\u201d she recalled.<\/p>\n

Vickie only revealed a couple pieces of information along with a picture of the ring: The last name of the ring\u2019s owner, the school and the graduation year.<\/p>\n

Within hours, messages poured in. Most everyone recognized the last name \u201cEllison,\u201d but one curious Furman alum used the last name, the graduation year and an old yearbook to determine the undisclosed initials inside the band, and the mystery quickly unraveled. The ring had belonged to the late Floyd Ellison, a respected Greenville physician and longtime Furman trustee.<\/p>\n

Ellison gave years of service and support to his alma mater. His dedication to the University shaped his family as well. Two grandsons, Zachary Hickerson \u201910 and Clark Hickerson \u201917, graduated from Furman. Each were influenced by their grandfather\u2019s pride in the school and their own memories of growing up at Paladin football and basketball games.<\/p>\n

When Ellison died in 2023, his class ring was passed to Clark.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe was the main reason I went to Furman,\u201d Clark said. \u201cHe put so much importance on his ring, and I always looked forward to the day I got mine.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lake Keowee, in South Carolina\u2019s Upstate, has 300 miles of shoreline. Three weeks before Landen dived for treasures, Clark had been swimming in the same spot when his grandfather\u2019s ring slipped off his right finger. Despite searching for nearly an hour, he came up empty. It was a loss that hit Clark especially hard as the ring served as a daily reminder of his bond with his grandfather. He wore his own class ring on one hand and his grandfather\u2019s on the other, a symbol of connection across generations.<\/p>\n

The Stoddards were inundated with messages about the owner through Ellison\u2019s former patients, Furman alumni and family and friends of Ellison\u2019s and his widow, Betty. Just hours after posting the ring, Vickie and Landen were in touch with \u201cMiss Betty\u201d and scheduled a meeting to return the ring.<\/p>\n

\"Two

Clark Hickerson’s and Floyd Ellison’s rings sit side-by-side.<\/p><\/div>\n

For Clark, the recovery felt extraordinary. Beyond restoring a treasured heirloom, it sparked an outpouring of memories about his grandfather\u2019s life and legacy. Dozens of Furman alumni and community members shared stories online, reminding Clark just how many lives his grandfather touched.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was nothing short of a miracle,\u201d Clark said. \u201cNow I\u2019ll never take for granted what this ring means to me or how lucky I am to have it back.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A lost and returned Furman ring reminds a family and a community what Floyd Ellison \u201960 meant to so many<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":389,"featured_media":39175,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-39171","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-alumni","category-featured"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39171","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/389"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39171"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39171\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":39180,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39171\/revisions\/39180"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39175"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39171"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39171"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.furman.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39171"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}