After being gone for 20 years, a high school letterman jacket is now back where it belongs.
Shannon Ellsworth, who later changed her name to Shannon Crean, did well at Old Town High School in both the classroom and on the field. She is proud to wear those successes on her sleeve again now that she has her letterman jacket back.
It was fun to look around in this huge antique shop, and I found this jacket. Rodney Lajoie said, “I said, ‘Oh my God, I have to find this person.'”
Lajoie was looking around the Fairfield Antique Mall when he saw the familiar green and white. He went to high school in Old Town and played baseball there.
Lacjoie said, “As soon as we left, I went on Facebook.” “I know some people who went to school with her.” So, two or three different people told me, “Shannon Crean.”
After a few hours, he finally found Shannon’s page and sent her a message.
“That’s crazy!” I was at work, or rather, I was leaving work, when he sent me the picture of the jacket. I looked at my phone blankly and asked, “What?” What? Who is this person? “What’s going on?” He said.
Shannon moved to California after high school, and she thinks her jacket got lost in a pile of things that were being donated. Over the years, she sometimes thought about what happened to it, but this never came up.
Then we asked her how she felt about her letterman jacket ending up in an antique store.
“That part didn’t feel good.” A quick hit to the face. “I thought, ‘Okay, I’m old,'” she laughed.
Now that twenty years have passed, she has it again.
“I tried to pay him for the jacket.” He, of course, said, “No, for sure not.” I value the memories more. “That was really cool, and it means a lot to me,” Ellsworth said.
“Why did I think it was important?” You should wear a letterman jacket to school because they are important. You put on there what you have done. Lajoie said, “And you know, it’s something to be proud of.” The first thing I wanted to do was get the jacket back to where it belonged. The second thing I wanted to do was break her heart. “I got both.”
“Yes, he did,” Ellsworth said.
Plus a new friend.
Ellsworth said, “Oh yeah, this guy’s great.”