Keys claimed, clues still don't find ring a home

The keys have found their home - the ring, not yet.

Yep, my quest was half successful in trying to find owners of keys found on Linn-Johnson Road and a girl's 1932 Washington High School class ring with the initials ESJ in my Dec. 16 Dave's Lost and Found column.

“I never thought I'd see those keys again,” said Teresa Bear, 47, who lives west of Swisher, after she picked them up at The Gazette. “They were missing since August.”

The two sets of keys, one with pictures of young kids, were sent to me with an anonymous note identifying the road where they were found.

“How they ended up where they did, I have no idea,” she said. “I thought I lost them at home.”

Teresa had replaced keys she needed and had some locks changed. But she wanted those photos, children of a close friend, back. And the vehicles' keys still work.

“Thank you, thank you, thank you,” she said.

Alas, even with expert help, it appears I won't be hearing those words anytime soon regarding the ring. That is, unless someone reading this knew Elizabeth Jacus Rice and might recognize her graduation photo.

Upon reading my plea, Charlene Hansen, 77, a volunteer at the Genealogical Society of Linn County who has helped me before, dug into her research. She wanted to find an heir to that old high school class ring Ron Alberts of Tiffin found in the fall of 2000 on the beach at Lake Macbride.

“We're detectives, really,” Charlene says.

First, she found a 1932 annual for old Washington High School in Cedar Rapids. Two woman had the initials EJ without a middle initial - Elizabeth Jackson who went by “EJ,” and Elizabeth Jacus known as “Betty.” A 1933 city directory showed the latter's middle initial, “S.” Bingo. ESJ. (Census records show Ms. Jackson's middle initial was “H.”)

Further research into the genealogical society's archives (located in the lower level of the Iowa Masonic Library) turned up information, including ESJ's obituatary.

Elizabeth Stewart Jacus was born July 8, 1914, in Minneapolis. She graduated from Washington High School in 1932, from Coe College in 1937, and married Clifford Rice on Nov. 3, 1940, in Cedar Rapids. He died in 1959. She had been a proofreader at Stamats Publishing Co. since 1962 and died March 15, 1987, at age 72.

Surviving children were Diane Fossum of Cupertino, Calif., Barbara Rice of Onalaska, Wisc., and Steven Rice of Madison, Wisc. She also had a sister, Janice Pomer of Seattle, Wash., and a brother, Willis Jacus of Houston, Texas.

Research also turned up her parents. Willis Horton Jacus, born in Buffalo, NY, died Dec. 7, 1924, at age 47 in Cedar Rapids where he was active in real estate. Maude Stewart Jacus, born in Ontario, Canada, was a seamstress at Killians before she died May 16, 1953, at age 65.

But the emphasis was on finding the kids by checking census and Social Security records.

Charlene found a Diane Fossum in Laguna Woods, Calif. But my call there revealed she had no Iowa connections.

Searching for the last name Rice would be like looking for a needle in a haystack, so Charlene didn't go there. But, on the chance that a Jacus in Wisconsin might be connected, I called Robert Jacus, 54, in Madison. Alas, his family came from Chicago and had no Iowa ties.

So, if Elizabeth Stewart Jacus Rice means anything to you, let me know. I still haven't given up hope of finding an heir for her ring.