About two weeks ago, Vanessa “Nikki” (Almeida) Oliveira was cutting a customer's hair at ProCuts in Wareham when she noticed something that looked familiar.

The customer was reading a copy of Wareham Week that showed a picture of a Class of 1973 Wareham High School ring with the a headline of “Lost and Found.”

“That’s my ring,” she jokingly told the customer as well as the receptionist at ProCuts.

But as the customer and the receptionist both read more into the article, they realized Oliveira wasn’t actually joking. Officials at Wareham High School had identified Oliveira as the owner of the ring, which was recently found in Virginia. The only problem was, they didn’t know where to find her, so Wareham High School Principal Scott Palladino contacted Wareham Week in an attempt to help find Vanessa Marie Amaral because of an inscription on the inside of the ring that read VMA.

Last week, approximately 41 years after losing it, the since-married Oliveira (hence the different last name), a resident of Onset, was reunited with her ring.

“I started jumping up and down—I said ‘that’s my ring, that’s my ring!,' said Oliveira, who had her receptionist call the school, who then arranged for the ring to be mailed from Virginia.

On Wednesday of last week, the ring arrived via UPS at the school, and Oliveira finally got her ring back.

“I was so thrilled about this,” said Oliveira, who couldn’t recall where or when exactly she had lost her ring, though she guessed it was a short time after leaving Wareham High.

The ring was discovered by Darrell and Mary Gail Hoffman of Virginia amongst a box of items Mary Gail’s mother Agnes had left behind after she passed away. The ‘treasures’ within the box initially belonged Agnes’ friend Walter Bickford, a former Massachusetts resident who enjoyed hunting for treasures on Massachusetts beaches with a metal detector.

Oliveira said she contacted the Hoffmans to thank them for helping to locate her ring and for shipping it back to Wareham High School, where Oliveira got it back. She said that since she’s had it, it’s been THE topic of conversation wherever she’s gone.

“My mother said, ‘that ring is gonna bring you luck,’ but I think I’m already very lucky for a lot of reasons—I have my health,” she said, noting that he hadn’t seen any good luck yet, but that at the least, the ring has brought her some happiness. “I love that I’ve got the ring because . . . everybody’s talking about it. We’re all talking about it. And everybody’s got a different story (about their class rings)—it’s brought about a lot of memories.”

Oliveira said she still feels a strong connection to Wareham High School, and that she was also thrilled to get the ring back because of how much she enjoyed her time there.

“We loved Wareham High School, and we just had great teachers,” she said. “I love Wareham. I love onset. I loved Wareham high, so I’m thrilled.”