It slipped off her finger while she was washing her hands, vanishing into a waste receptacle in the Marchant Building where she works.
She didn't realize the ring was gone until later. But when she went back to check the restroom, she found that the trash had already been emptied.
"I assumed that it was very unlikely that I would ever see my ring again," she said.
She was wrong.
Custodian Bertrande Landry, a 28-year veteran University employee, had noticed the ring as he emptied the trash and had turned it over to lead custodian Francis Skipper.
"Mr. Landry should be commended on doing a great job," said Williams. "We should have more like him."
(Peg Skorpinski photo)