The holiday season is universally acknowledged as a magical time of year filled with unexpected gifts. Thomas County Central High School alumnus James Kirk Beckham is on the receiving end of such a present.

After decades, Beckham, 75, recently reunited with his 1961 TCCHS class ring. The way the ring found its way home is nothing short of a Christmas fable.

Enter the late James Floyd of Woodstock.

“My daddy was very skinny with a laugh you could hear for miles,” daughter Holly Floyd Parks said. “He was the king of dad jokes. And everybody always used to say you couldn’t have a better friend than my daddy. He would go without to provide for someone else.”

Also, he was a ring magnet.

“We would be walking through parking lots and out of nowhere he would say, ‘Do you see that? Do you see that shining,’” she said. “He would find all kinds of rings. The man had hundreds he’d found. Some rings he found the owners to and others he would say, ‘One of these days I’ll find out who this belongs to.’”

But of all the rings Floyd found, only three were high school class rings.

“He found the Thomas County ring about 30 years ago in an old Walmart parking lot in Woodstock,” Parks said.

Floyd kept the rings he was unable to reunite with their owners in his safe. After his unexpected death in May 2017, his daughter inherited Floyd’s collection. She began trying to find the rings’ owners.

One of Parks’ messages went to TCCHS. It included a photo of a class ring her father found and details of the engraved initials and graduation year.

“I used Mr. (Frank) Delaney's yearbook from that year to identify Mr. Beckham,” assistant principal Karen Jones said. “I contacted his cousin who gave me Mr. Beckham's number. I called Mr. Beckham and let him know his ring had been located.”

Remarkably, Beckham says he didn’t realize the ring was gone.

“I am not a ring person,” he said. “I got it because my mother wanted me to have a class ring. I wore the ring for about a week and then took it off. I have no idea when or where I lost it.”

This was in late September. Parks, who lives in Canton, was unable to send the ring until early December. Beckham was informed upon its arrival and came to TCCHS to retrieve it.

Beckham has fond memories of his time as a TCCHS student. He willingly moved from Thomasville High School to the new county high school as a sophomore in 1958. An athlete involved in track, basketball and football, Beckham calls Erskine Mills – the school’s first principal – and athletics coach Sherman Hall as tremendous mentors.

“High school was always just a lot of fun to me; it was always an adventure,” Beckham said. “I’m so glad I went to Central.”

Jones enjoyed hearing some of Beckham’s school history.

“It was very sweet to hear him talk about when he was in high school,” she said. “He told stories of when he was the quarterback on Central's first football team. It was a very special conversation.”

Though there are many lessons one could take from this tale, Beckham knows what sticks with him. He appreciates the significance of this unexpected gift.

“It means so much more to me now than it did when I first got it,” he said of the ring. “You don’t realize you miss something until it’s gone. It’s a beautiful ring. Getting it back is what I call a ‘God wink.’ It’s a gift from God that you can’t explain. I’m so glad I got it back.”

Parks says returning the ring to Beckham feels right.

“I know my daddy would be really happy it’s found its way home,” she said.