By Bryn Gregory (SSW’26) | Published October 2025

Hours after Marnie (Pierce) Jones (COM’96) said her final goodbyes to her father on November 4, 2024, she received a remarkable sign: an email from the BU Alumni Help Desk that her class ring—missing for 30 years—had been found. The timing felt like more than a coincidence.

Marnie grew up in a small town in New York. When it was time to choose a college, she knew she wanted a change of scenery. “BU had such a great reputation in communications and advertising specifically, and I knew that I wanted to be in a city,” she reflects, “I grew up in a really, really small town. So getting out of that and experiencing more of life was really important to me.”

At BU, Marnie embraced her newfound freedom. “I loved the ability to walk everywhere. Growing up in the country, you don’t get that. And just the idea that being so far away, I have to be independent—I have to do this on my own, and the grit that develops in you—that was a huge part of my college experience,” she shares.

When her time on Comm. Ave neared its end, Marnie hoped to commemorate her graduation with more than just a cap and gown—she also wanted a BU class ring. “I have expensive taste, so of course I wanted the one that was really nice and gold,” she laughs.

Due to the cost, Marnie hesitated to express to her parents how much she truly wanted the ring. But her father insisted that it was important, and that she had earned it. “I remember him sort of pushing me to say, ‘you know, yeah, I guess I really do want it,’” she says. And with the help of her parents, Marnie got her shiny new gold ring— engraved with her name and class year—and wore it every day that followed.

Unfortunately, she didn’t get to enjoy her new ring for long. About a year after graduation, Marnie was still enjoying her independence in the city that captivated her as a freshman—this time, traveling to and from work instead of class.

Her first full-time marketing job was at Grand Circle Travel on Congress Street in Boston. Living in East Boston, her commute involved multiple train transfers. “I would get on at Lechmere, get off at Park Street, but then I’d have to cross the Congress Street Bridge and then head to my office on Congress Street,” she explains.

Marnie suspects that on one cold winter day, maybe in the pitch darkness in the midst of the hustle and bustle of her daily commute, she lost the ring. “I remember kind of realizing, oh, I’ve really lost it. Like, I don’t just think it’s lost in my apartment. I looked everywhere. I thought I lost it somewhere in the city on my commute, or it’s in the harbor, is really what I thought.”

At the time, she felt embarrassed to tell her parents. Although the story may have come out over the years, she didn’t want to admit it right away. The ring was gone, and life moved on.

Over the next three decades, Marnie relocated with her husband to North Carolina, where they raised their two children. Far away from Congress Street, Marnie’s career led her to the North Carolina Board of Dietetics and Nutrition, where she currently serves as executive director.

Then came her father’s late-stage liver cancer diagnosis in late 2024. Marnie spent the three weeks that followed with family, as they cherished their last moments together before he passed away in hospice care on November 4.

Meanwhile, at the end of October, the BU Alumni Help Desk received an email from a woman in North Attleboro, MA. Her elderly mother had discovered a BU class ring in Downtown Boston many years ago and hoped to one day reunite it with its owner. However, life got busy, and the ring remained tucked away in her belongings for years, until she and her daughter uncovered it while cleaning. Because Marnie’s full name and class year were engraved inside ring, the Help Desk was able to locate her and return the ring.

On November 4, just hours after her father—who bought her the class ring—passed away, Marnie received the news: her ring had been found. “My brain just exploded. I couldn’t believe what I was reading,” she remembers.

The ring’s journey back home symbolizes how both the woman from North Attleboro and Marnie honor their parents’ wishes and legacies.

To Marnie, the ring’s serendipitous return was her father’s way of telling her that everything was okay. “In the final weeks we talked about him sending me signs,” she shares, tears welling in her eyes. “I just couldn’t help but think that it was just a way of him telling me he’s okay. Because he was the person that ultimately had gotten me the ring—and he was the person I was afraid to tell that I lost it.”