Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 14 of 16

Now that the winter months are upon us and the snow is here, accidents occur with rings lost throwing snowballs, taking gloves off pulling off rings in the snow,

cleaning your car and off comes the ring, etc. There are many stories out there but I can help you find your lost treasure. I have 40 years of experience finding

lost treasurers. I live in Grand Rapids, MI and can travel anywhere you need me.

I  charge for gas expense depending on the distance traveled and if the item is found I would accept a reward.

    Call me at 616 406-6653 or email: gelarabel@sbcglobal.net

Brian Bierenga with ring back on finger

I received an email today from a  friend, Vickie J. ,who works where I used to work. She  knew that I metal detected and retired just to go detecting.  A co-worker mentioned to her that her husband had lost a lot of weight and was doing some yard work and lost his wedding ring as it was very loose. She told Rhiannon B. about me. I called Vickie after receiving the email and then decided to message Rhiannon on FB. Before you know it between 2:30PM when I received the email and 5:30PM when I went to their home, the ring was back on Brian’s finger.

Brian had bagged three big bags of leaves to be thrown out the next day. When I messaged them on FB I told them not to throw out any bags until I check them. I got out my Bounty Hunter metal detector and check bag one and two with no alerts, checking bag three I got a great signal then emptied a few leaves and there it was.

Brian is a teacher at Mattawan High School and I’m sure will have some good news for his students tomorrow.

Margaret V. and Mother

On July 4th Jon B. son-in-law of Steve V. was up visiting his wifes family at Wall Lake, North of Delton, MI. While playing in the swim area with his children he noticed his ring was missing. After searching the area he was unable to find it and mentioned it to Steve, soon the vacation was over and Jon and his family headed back to Houston, TX. To add insult to injury they totaled their car on the way back home.

A month later a metal detecting friend, Dave Moyer, was approached by a Steve while Dave was metal detecting on a school playground. He asked him if he could search the water for a lost ring. After giving the man his card he got a call about a month later and was asked to come out to the lake and look for the ring. Dave asked me to come along and help because he had not searched any deep water and knew I did a lot of water searches.

Dave and I went out to Wall Lake just North of Delton, MI. It was a nice Fall day about 68 degrees and the water was still warm from the summer months. After spending a few minutes preparing our gear and entering the water I found the ring after 3 sweeps with my CZ21 detector. We continued to search the swim area, as we would normally do, to remove any junk such as nails, pull tabs, dock bolts and anything else that could hurt someone swimming.

Steve’s mom was visiting his grandmother who owns the home on the lake and was watching us look for the ring and they had their doubts that it would be found. Finding the ring added a bright side to an awful finish to a summer vacation for Jon and his family.

I would like to post an email that I received from a very happy man who got his ring back. Thanks to one of our newest members of theringfinders, Ryan Cole.

Brian and Gregg after the ring rescue.

Brian, his wife Laura, family and friends were vacationing at a cottage at Houghton Lake, MI. On Saturday afternoon, less than 3 hours into the vacation, he was playing catch with a football in the lake and his platinum ring slipped off his finger in about 3 feet of water. He thought it would be easy to find and grabbed a mask and search the water for about two hours then gave up. He thought it was lost for good. Feeling terrible because « he loved his ring, he wore it every day for 11 years without taking it off. » It cost $1,100 but the sentimental value far exceeds its actual worth and to him was irreplaceable. He thought about it all night.On Sunday morning, Brian turned on his IPad and typed « lost ring water Michigan » into a Bing Search engine and followed the link to theringfinders blog. He found me in Grand Rapids, MI and left a message at about 9:30 Sunday morning. I had just got out of church and noticed a call so about 20 minutes after his message I called him back. My brother Doug and I were planning on going up to the Upper Peninsula to find another ring so I told Brian we would detour up to Houghton Lake to search for his ring. We got up to the cottage about 1:30PM changed into our suits, got our gear and began the search, in less than 30 minutes I found his ring. He said « it was an amazing sound to hear me say, does this look like your ring ».

    After some pictures, handshakes and smiles we headed on up North. Thank you for the generous reward, I was our pleasure to put a smile back on your face.

While metal detecting in four feet of water with about one foot waves at Grand Haven State Park, Michigan, I found a class ring from Davenport University class of 2005. We were on a hunt with our metal detecting club (Wolverine Research and Recovery Club) and I showed the ring to the members and said tomorrow I will be on Craigslist and Facebook to find the owner. When I got home that evening I went to Facebook and found several Mike Harders but only one from the area in Middleville, MI. I friend-ed Mike and asked him if he graduated from DU. He messaged me back and after answering several questions I found he was the  owner of the class ring.

Mike was skipping a ball with his nephew  in Lake Michigan when he noticed the ball and another splash, the other splash was his ring. He has lost weight due to Parkinsons that he has and as an Air Force veteran is 100% disabled. Mike graduated from DU in 2005 with a degree in Computer Engineering and shortly before his moms death she gave him the money for his ring. It has a lot of sentimental value to him and when he told his sister that someone  had recovered his ring that sat down and cried.

As a retired Air Force veteran myself  it was very special to meet Mike face to face and hand over the ring to him.

Forty minutes after Brian Ingle lost his wedding ring, he was on line looking for smeone to find it, finding « theringfinders » he looked in the directory at Michigan and found my name. Brian immediately got on the telephone asking me to come out and find his wedding ring. I told him I could be out the next morning.

Brian, Kelsey (who is 7 months pregnant with their first child) and his mother and father in-law were staying at Brians parents cottage on Crystal Lake and decided to play water volleyball. They have a net set up in 3 to 4 feet of water with a sandy bottom, it was ideal for detector hunting. Kelsey told him to be careful not to loose his ring while playing volleyball but as luck would have it, his ring came off. He showed us where it must be and that he didn’t hit the ball hard because it was just  family funtime in the water.

My brother Doug and I set up a grid search of the volleyball court, him taking one side and I the other. After finishing one way with no results we started the other grid search going perpendicular in the court. Two hours had passed with no results however we did clean out several screws, bolts, bottlecaps and coins. We decided to go several feet outside the court to no avail, than lunch. From 9:30am to 3:00pm we searched. I decided to go way outside the box and there it was on the opposite side of the court where Brian thought it was on.

Brian and Kelsey were smiling and a very happy couple bing reunited with his ring. The couple is from Fairborn, Ohio and Kelsey’s parents were visiting from Cincinatti, Ohio. We showed them some Pure Michigan hospitality.

Josh O. happy to be reunited with drowned ring.

While metal detecting in about four feet of water at Kirk Park near Grand Haven, Michigan I was using my Fisher CZ21. After about an hour of trying my best to grid off the open water I came across a  good signal and after a few digs I rescued a « large » Titanium wedding band. Wanting to reunite the lost ring to the rightful owner I got on Craigslist and went into Lost and Found. About a day later I got an email from J.O. (fatkid). He had lost his ring on July 5 while playing football in the water with a bunch of friends. A day earlier he had gone to the jeweler to try to get the ring sized due to some weight-loss but wasn’t able to at that time.

After he lost the ring Josh went on the internet and saw www.theringfinders.com but didn’t act upon it until he had seen the Craigslist posting and emailed me. After a few emails it was determined that Josh was the rightful owner and this ring, rescued from under the sand and four feet of water, finally was coming home to its owner.

Happy days are now in store for Josh and I think he should think about changing his email handle from « fatkid » to something else he has trimmed down.

"I just can't believe you found it"

Pat Lindquist was busy doing some gardening around her Condo when finding her glove uncomfortable with her ring on, she removed her glove and took her ring off and put it on the trunk of her car that was sitting in the garage.

Forgetting about the ring until the next day while having a manicure, she noticed the ring missing and remembered where she put it. Pat went out and rented a detector, told the walkers and joggers that come by her condo and letting the maintenance man know that it was lost and she put an ad in the local newspaper. I answered the ad and asked her several questions. The answers I got, told me it wasn’t around the condo, so I placed an old ring on her trunk and told her to back out of the driveway and then drive about a hundred feet.  She did and the ring did not move. My brother Doug and I then got in my car and I told her to drive the route she took last week. As she drove we watched the ring on the trunk and when she traveled about 1/2 a mile and turned a corner the ring moved a little bit but did not fall off, she kept on driving. After about another couple of blocks coming to a busy intersection, I told her to stop. We took the ring off the trunk lid and I told her to go back home and we will come by soon.

An engagement ring made into a cocktail ring.

Doug headed down the busy street and I back tracked to the corner where the ring moved on the trunk. I walked along the gutter and on the edge of the grass and after about 30 feet there it was in the gutter waiting for me after one week in the cold and alone on the lonely street.

We came back to the condo and seeing that the ring was insured, I presented Pat with a letter for her insurance agent. At the same time Doug held up the ring on his pinkie and Pat started crying. She asked us in her home and we met her husband who told Pat at one point last week « we might be a scam ». We laughed and affirmed the importance of integrity of this activity.

Pat promised to tell everyone listed above and the girls at work won’t believe it.

As a RINGFINDER you need to ask leading questions, be a detective and look beside where the ring was thought to be.

A happy grandmother, trust reinstated.

Linda Timmer called me Sat June 2nd and said she lost a child’s gold ring that her granddaughter to her to hold for

Childs gold ring with amber stone.

her for safe keeping. She put it in her pocket after seeing her granddaughter and went home. While staying at a small cottage on Myers Lake, while their home was being remodeled. She brought her dog out to the back yard and threw her car keys to her husband and at thqat time unbeknown to her the ring came out of her pocket into the grass. She didn’t discover it until later so she went out and searched the car and went over the grass on her hands and knees to no avail.

Linda had been told that there was a newspaper article written by Tom Rademacher about Gregg Larabel the Ring Finder. She gave me a call and I told her I would be out Monday morn at 10am.  My brother Doug usually goes out with me as we make a great team. After meeting Linda and her husband, she retold the story and then we began to hunt.

Using a grid system Doug started on one end and I on the  other, it was only about 20 square feet of lawn. After about 20 minutes Doug reached down, using his Bounty Hunter Fast Tracker, and picked up the ring.

A happy and relieved grandmother promised never to mis-handle something that her grandaughter intrusted with. A nice couple that both Doug and I could identify with being veterans ourselves.