San Jose resident Virginia Valdez lost her appetite for a banana split while in Manteca.

It’s because enjoying a banana split inadvertently led to her losing her wedding and engagement rings by leaving them in an empty dish.

The 78-year-old woman lost the rings that had been soldered together from the time the couple married in 1955. Her husband died three years ago.  The loss has made her a bit depressed. She’s offering a finder’s fee of $1,000 with no questions asked.

She remembers visiting her sister-in-law in Manteca – some six weeks ago now – and going to Chubby’s Diner on North Main Street on that weekend for the banana split.  When she finished her favorite dessert, she went to the restroom to wash up and placed the rings in a half piece of a paper towel.  When she returned to her table, she inadvertently put the towel with the rings on the table and then in the empty ice cream dish and forgot about them as she chatted.

She noted that there were actually three rings mounted together – one with tiny little diamonds that her husband originally paid $400 to purchase.  

She served as a teacher’s aide in a San Jose school district for some 30 years working until 7 at night as well as volunteering in nursing homes.