Diamond in the rough

Then she met Woodside resident Ted Ross. Not only did he find her ring and decide to return it, but he refused any reward.

"I'd love to keep this ring and give it to my wife, but I'd have to live with myself," he said nearly a week after Chang posted the fliers.

Ross renewed Chang's faith in people.

Sure it may sound mushy, but when the missing ring was purchased by her husband only a week into the courtship and slipped on her finger just five weeks later - there's more than just dollar signs attached to it.

"It's not just a materialistic thing," said 32-year-old Chang, who's been married since 1999.

The ring slipped off Chang's finger at a Thai restaurant in San Mateo's Marina Shopping Center during a Saturday night dinner with her family.

The next day, Ross noticed the shiny object on the floor of the restaurant while dining with his wife. What he thought was just a soda tab turned out to be a diamond ring.

Ross, 50, decided to keep it and attempt to find the owner. When he found Chang, he didn't think twice about a reward.

"I just hate thinking about taking the reward for something everyone should naturally do," he said.

Ross knows first-hand how fleeting money is. He left the finance industry in 1989 to build boat docks in Redwood City and Foster City.

Ross graduated from Aragon High School in 1977, earned two MBAs and became a financial analyst. In 1989, he left to start a career that's "a little more dangerous." Now he's a successful general contractor and boat dock builder - with a clean conscience.

"I lived in San Mateo my whole life, I still have some sense of community and that's how people should be - no exception," he said.

It's people like Ross who perpetuate the small town feeling in San Mateo, said Chang.

Dana Yates can be reached by e-mail: dana@smdailyjournal.com or by phone: (650) 344-5200 ext. 106. What do you think of this story? Send a letter to the editor: letters@smdailyjournal.com.