NATCHEZ &045; There’s no greater surprise than finding something you didn’t know you lost.

So when a pawnshop discovery in Natchez turned into a ringing phone at Morris Hyman’s Fremont, Calif., residence, the 83-year-old was just a little shocked.

In just over a month, a metal-detector find on the Natchez Trace has led several Natchez High graduates on a nationwide search for the owner of a 1939 class ring that ended Tuesday with Hyman.

The only problem &045; Hyman doesn’t remember losing the ring.

That’s not to say he doesn’t fully believe the ring is his.

&uot;I don’t remember it,&uot; he said. &uot;But because it’s a 1939 ring with my initials, I’m very excited to see it.&uot;

NHS graduate Larry Bass, who currently lives in Baltimore, plans to mail the ring to Hyman this week for no more than the cost of postage. The search started when Bass, who runs an NHS Web site, was contacted by the pawnshop that received the ring.

With help from locals Tony Byrne and George Adams, Bass narrowed the search to Hyman and another man who is deceased.

The men used graduation records from 1939 to match the initials &uot;MH,&uot; which appeared in the ring.

Byrne said he was 99.9 percent sure the ring is Hyman’s.

They also contacted a forensic jeweler who created a profile of the owner, which stated that the owner was likely an athlete who wore the ring while working with his hands, Bass said.

That’s a profile Hyman said fits.

&uot;I played football,&uot; he said. &uot;I was only a good student when I had to be to play football.

&uot;I had a job pouring concrete (after high school).&uot;

Hyman said he left Natchez in the 1940s when he joined the Army National Guard and was stationed in France.

&uot;I was wounded there,&uot; he said. &uot;And I came home and married my present wife, Alberta. The best thing I ever did in my life. She was from across the river.&uot;

After World War II, Hyman and wife moved to California where he attended Stanford University and received a law degree, at his wife’s prompting, he said.

&uot;My wife told me that’s the thing to do,&uot; he said.

In 1964 he became one of the founders of Fremont Bank and in 1970 became president. Since then the bank has become one of the most successful independent banks in the Bay Area of California, the bank’s Web site says.

Hyman has published a book on banking and still continues to work at the bank. He said his sons are in charge now, but he’s still involved.

Hyman spoke fondly of his days at Natchez High and asked several questions about the town since his departure.

He said he doesn’t remember a time when he was in town and may have lost the ring, but is hopeful seeing the ring will jog his memory. &uot;It ought to be blue or something like that,&uot; he said.