Mike Henry / Picture Editor / mh359006@ohiou.edu

Students walk by a painting that is hung in the lobby of the Old Nelson dining hall. The painting had been stolen as a prank over 20 years ago, but was finally returned last year.

An Ohio University alumnus, feeling remorse, returned a painting to Old Nelson dining hall 22 years after stealing it to cheer up a friend.

Keith Kaple, a 42-year-old OU alumnus who works as an engineer, swiped a painting of a bulb developing into a flower as a late Christmas present for his roommate, who felt depressed.

Kaple said that he spotted the painting while “polishing off” a bowl of Fruit Loops at Old Nelson dining hall. He removed the painting from the wall and walked out “nonchalantly.”

“It was completely spontaneous,” Kaple said. “One of those wonderful OU moments.”

Kaple and his roommate, who was shocked to find the stolen painting under his bed covers, agreed to keep it but avoided explaining how it came to adorn their wall. The painting later hung at 113 N. Congress St.

“I was a starving college student,” Kaple said. “My decorations were probably a Led Zeppelin poster and a lava lamp,” he said, adding that he kept the painting because of its sentimental value.

Kaple decided to return the painting to OU 22 years later during a Fall Quarter 2007 reunion with college friends.“Everyone probably does something that they don’t think about that they can correct later,” Kaple said.

After parking behind Dougan Hall, Kaple said he walked to Old Nelson dressed like an OU employee to avoid suspicion from passers-by and attendees of a wedding reception that was taking place in the dining hall.

Kaple, using a pre-existing nail hole, re-hung the painting in the lobby of Old Nelson.

“OU is going to be with you in a way that you can’t understand now, and you’ll always have very sentimental stories and feelings,” Kaple said. “For me, OU was a very cool, moral place.”

Kaple said that he does not recommend stealing to anyone.

“Thanks for the memories, Ohio University,” Kaple said. “I apologize.”

The painting once again went missing earlier this quarter during preparations for an alumni gala in Old Nelson, said Gwyn Scott, executive director of Culinary and Dining Services. The painting was placed in a cloakroom, she said, adding that employees re-hung it yesterday.

Dining Services did not know the painting had been stolen, Scott said.