The week's good news: June 1, 2017

1. Woman finds out her $13 flea market ring is a diamond worth thousands

An anonymous Londoner may have scored the deal of a century at a local flea market. In the 1980s, the unidentified woman bought what she thought was a gaudy costume ring at an outdoor second-hand bazaar for 10 pounds — the equivalent of $13. She wore the ring every day, and never thought much about it until a local jeweler told her it might be worth something. It turned out to be a vintage 19th-century ring set with a genuine 26-carat diamond, and the piece is now expected to fetch up to $450,000 at an upcoming Sotheby's auction. "This is a one-off windfall," says Jessica Wyndham of Sotheby's, "an amazing find."

ABC News

2. Graduate stuck on delayed subway gets underground ceremony

A delayed train kept Jerich Marco Alcantara from his official graduation ceremony, but didn't stop his friends, family, and fellow subway riders from ensuring he experienced some pomp and circumstance. Alcantara was set to graduate from Hunter-Bellevue School of Nursing on Tuesday morning, and on the way to Manhattan, his train came to a stop. As the minutes ticked by, Alcantara — donning his cap and gown — knew he wouldn't make it in time, and that's when the train came together to throw him an impromptu ceremony. "It wasn't so much an idea, but something that just happened," he told New York. His friend created a diploma on his cell phone, a fellow rider started to play music on his phone, and everyone watched as Alcantara received his own private ceremony. The train was delayed three hours, but "it was a great time," Alcantara said.

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New York

3. 9-year-old sets up lemonade stand to keep her local library open

The library in Berkley, Massachusetts, has been serving the community since 1893, and Mia Maguire wants to make sure its doors are always open. When the 9-year-old heard that the library could close due to budget cuts, she crafted a plan to raise money on Saturday by selling glasses of lemonade for 50 cents each. During her first hour selling outside the library, she made $100, and she ended the day with $625. "Mia literally held that sign all day long," older sister Samantha Maguire told Inside Edition. "It was really an incredible thing to witness. We did not know it would be such a big event." Mia said it meant a lot to see so many residents offer their support. "I didn't know how many people cared about the library like we do," she said.

Inside Edition

4. Man honors veterans by restoring their gravestones

Armed with water, brushes, and environmentally safe cleaning solution, Andrew Lumish spends every Sunday at Woodlawn Cemetery in Tampa cleaning the gravestones of veterans who fought in conflicts from the Civil War to Vietnam. Over the last five years, he's cleaned about 600 gravestones, with some covered in so much mold and mildew it was impossible to read the names. A history buff, Lumish uses genealogy websites and records at the library stretching back to the 1800s to get information on the veterans whose headstones he cleans, and he posts what he learns on a Facebook page called Good Cemeterian. "We uncover heroes," Lumish told WUSF. "They were not considered heroes of their day, so I hope that some of the stories that I tell make people appreciate the men and women that serve currently."

WUSF Facebook

5. New nurse saves life of fellow passenger on airplane

Courtney Donlon was sleeping on her flight home to New Jersey last week when an announcement woke her up — over the loudspeaker, a crew member was asking if any medical professionals were on board. Donlon, 22, started her nursing career last September, and she quickly volunteered to help a 57-year-old woman experiencing the symptoms of a heart attack. Working with limited supplies, Donlon assisted the woman as best she could, and after the plane made an emergency landing, held her hand until paramedics arrived. "I can't lie, I was nervous at first being on a plane with limited supplies, but once I realized I was the most qualified person on the plane and someone had to be the confident one, then I could take to the role pretty easily," Donlon said.

My Central Jersey