A ring cycle with a happy ending

FALLS VILLAGE — Though it doesn’t have the drama of Wagner’s Ring  Cycle, this ring story is intriguing in its own special way.

And it has a happy ending.

The alumni Web site post seeking the owner of a Housatonic Valley Regional High School class ring was not particularly enticing at first. But what caught this reporter’s interest was the suggestion that there was a tale. The ring had only a date, 1963, and the initials “KRC.� But Dan Seichter, the Wallingford man who had recently taken possession of the ring, had written online, “from the story that I understand from the ring, it belonged to a Ken or Kenneth.�

The story Seichter knew of was that the ring, made in the style of that era — a flat onyx stone bearing a gold crest — had been stored with his aunt’s belongings. Marilyn Seichter died of Huntington’s disease in 2002.

Her sister was unpacking from a move earlier this year when she found a box of Seichter’s jewelry. She gave the ring to her son, Dan, telling him she believed his aunt had been engaged to its original owner. She wasn’t sure but thought his name was Ken.

Finding her former sweetheart

The search for a full name began with Bunny McGuire, now retired but a long-time secretary at Housatonic and a graduate of the school herself. From an old yearbook, she came up with the name of Kenneth Robert Cavanaugh, who lived in Cornwall when he attended Housy. He graduated in 1963.

His brother, Gordon, still lives in Cornwall. He couldn’t recall much about Marilyn or any engagement, but was himself intrigued by the story, and passed along his brother’s phone number in Pottstown, Pa., where he lives with his wife, Dolores.

Ring, ring on the telephone

While dialing the number, it occurred to this reporter that Dolores might not know about Marilyn. Thus, the message left on the answering machine had to be somewhat veiled, referring only to the discovery of “a ring.�

As it turned out, it was Dolores Cavanaugh who heard the message first.

“She wondered right away if Marilyn had had the ring,� Ken Cavanaugh said, once this reporter had a chance to speak with him. “A few times over the years we wondered what happened to my high school ring. Dolores knew about Marilyn, and I thought I might have given it to her, but I honestly cannot remember that I did.�

Cavanaugh and Marilyn Seichter met while students at the University of Connecticut. He started at the Torrington branch, then moved to the main campus in September 1964. The couple met the following spring. He recalls their getting “pinned,� the college version of going steady. He remembers giving her his fraternity pin. But not his high school ring.

They talked about marriage but, in the fall of 1966, decided they needed to step back and focus on education and careers.

“The breakup was amicable,� Cavanaugh said. “My grades were taking a beating. It wasn’t easy to be a chemical engineering major and be in a serious relationship. Marilyn was a political science major and planning to go on to UConn law school.

“She was pretty ambitious. I followed her career. She was one of the first women to get a law degree from UConn and went on to be the first woman president of the Connecticut Bar Association.�

Cavanaugh left graduate school in the fall of 1967 for a job in Waterbury. Marilyn was still in law school a little over a year later when Cavanaugh asked her to dinner.

“Part of me was wondering if there was still something there. We caught up, but we were on our own paths, and that was the last time we saw each other.�

Not long after that, he took an engineering job in Pottstown, met Dolores,  a receptionist at the company, and they married. Cavanaugh had no reason not to tell her about his past relationship.

Coming full circle

Cavanaugh was put in touch with Dan Seichter. At last report, they had a great phone conversation, and the ring was on its way to Pottstown.

Seichter also donated some of his aunt’s personal effects to the Connecticut State Library archives, where she is included for her impressive career as a law partner, in politics and for her work on landmark cases, especially those concerning women’s rights.