A California man said he was overjoyed when a sewer worker discovered the class ring he dropped down a toilet 72 years ago.

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Jesse Mattos, 90, of Vallejo said he dropped his Dunsmuir High School ring in a toilet in a Northern California butcher shop when he was 18 and never expected to see it again, the Oakland Tribune reported Monday.

Mattos said he "never thought anything about it" until he recently learned Tony Congi, a Dunsmuir city worker, discovered the ring in March while performing maintenance on a sewer.

Congi said he used the year on the ring, 1938, and the initials J.T.M. to track the ring back to Mattos, whom he located with the help of a classmate of Mattos who still lives in town.

Mattos said he was overjoyed to hear about the ring, which was found just days after the death of his wife.

"Something like this ring thing was a real booster for me," Mattos said.

Congi returned the ring to Mattos at Easter.

"I felt like I was a lot younger again," Mattos said.