TOWSON, Md. — It's a love story with a gift that will stand the test of time. One husband goes on a journey to get his wife the college class ring she's always wanted.
A class ring sits on the finger of Kerrie Neal with a black stone and the year 1995 on the side. A piece of jewelry to commemorate Neal’s time at Towson State University. But for her, it's so much more.
"It represents a lot of hard work on my part, a lot of hard work on Michael’s part and it's something that I will treasure. The ring I love but the story behind it of why he did it for me,” said Kerrie Neal, who graduated from Towson State University in 1995.
Kerrie's husband, Michael Neal was diagnosed with a rare form of cancer called Atypical Multiple Myeloma in 2012. At the age of 44 he was given just four years to live.
Now years later, he says he's on borrowed time and wanted to gift his wife with something that will last beyond his time.
"So I thought alright this will be simple, I’ll call up Towson which I did, the book store, and I asked who handled your ring accounts back then. It was Art Carved so I called them up and told them what I wanted to do,” said Michael.
That's when he hit the first obstacle. “They were like wow we can make that ring but it will say Towson University. And I’m like well that will be a problem because my wife didn't graduate from Towson University her diploma says Towson State and she's very proud of that,” said Michael.
To put Towson State, he had to get written permission from Towson University. He got that done and hit another hurdle when he wanted the exact ring from 1995.
"So I got in touch with some people from university archives, Jasmin Allen, who was kind enough to go through all the research necessary and she found surprisingly not too much material but she did find one advertisement in the Towson paper,” said Michael.
It took time and the company that made the ring found the mold but it was damaged.
"So it took them making the ring three times to get it perfect,” said Michael.
Kerrie was surprised with the ring Christmas morning. A symbol of his love for his wife but also a symbol to pass down to his grandkids-- the importance of getting an education.
"I just want when pop pops gone I want them to know education matters cause I won't be here to teach them that," said Michael.
