DESTIN — Before he died, Henry Davis found a way to be part of his son’s future college graduation.
The Texas man bought 20-year-old Hunter his Oklahoma State University class ring, and then attended the small ceremony during which it was awarded.
“My dad has been sick for the last two years and we didn’t think he was going to make it to my graduation,” says Hunter. “At the ceremony, he came and saw me get my ring.
“That meant a lot to me – it was like me graduating for him.”
After Henry died on July 23, his widow, D’Laine Davis, brought Hunter and his younger brother, Hank, to Destin. That’s where Hunter lost the ring that meant so much to him.
“I was in the ocean with my brother,” Hunter says. “We were throwing the ball. The ring came off. I had suntan lotion on my hands.
“It was the perfect storm of conditions.”
Beachgoers helped the Davis family search for the ring.
Finally, Hunter decided to rent a metal detector.
That’s when he learned about a man, Jack Poole, who has a reputation as a “treasure finder.”
Poole, whose Fort Walton Beach business rents metal detectors, agreed to drive 45 minutes to help the family. After several hours, Poole hadn’t located the ring.
“I told him, ‘I’m done man. It’s been long enough,’” Hunter recalls.
“Jack said, ‘Well, I’m off the clock. I’m going to keep looking for it'.”
D’Laine says Poole assured them that even if he couldn’t find the ring that day, he would find it.
After nearly five hours of searching, Poole located the ring in the Gulf of Mexico and gave it back to Hunter.
“Everybody was cheering and yelling,” Hunter says. “That’ was pretty cool.”
He says he’s not a “ring man,” and never even got his high school class ring. But the piece of jewelry he wears on his hand is more than just decoration.
“When I lost it, it wasn’t a big deal about the ring, but it was that (Dad) gave it to me,” Hunter says.