Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 2 of 16

I received a call from Sam E. regarding his wife, Ashley, who lost her ring while relaxing in about 3 feet of water with some friends. While kneeling in the water swishing her hands through the sand she felt her ring come off. Ashley and her friends immediately tried to sift through the sand, seashells and water to no avail. Ashley had the wherewithal to take a picture of a landmark as to where they were kneeling in the water. I went out that afternoon to look for the ring as it was a public beach an other detectors frequented that area. After a couple hours searching for the ring it appeared in my scoop with shells and sand.

Sam and Ashley live in Brighton, Michigan about 150 miles away so I had to mail the ring. Although I have never met them in person, I know they were very grateful to get her ring back on her finger.

Maybe we will meet someday.

My Ring Finder partner Dave Boyer got a call from Amethyst M. this morning. She was swimming in Lake Michigan during a high wave day and lost her engagement ring in about 3 feet of water. We arrived at the lake before she got there so we started searching without knowing the area where she lost it. The weather was getting bad and the waves were rolling and the rain coming down hard. Amethyst came down to the water to meet us in the pouring rain, after she directed us to the right area we told her to go sit in her car. After a 30 minute search Dave got a very good ring signal which turned out to be a pull tab just before that I was able to find her ring about 5 feet away from him. I motioned to Dave and said « lets get out of this rain ». We went up to the car and motioned to Amethyst to come out. Dave told her he didn’t have any luck then I reached into my pouch and asked her if this was her ring and she burst out « crying in the rain ». I always say « I’m 77 years old and can still make the ladies cry ».

I was contacted by Suzanne S. about her wedding ring she thought was lost while swimming. The ring was very special to her as it was the last ring that her father-in-law made as a jeweler before he retired. When she got out of the water she noticed here ring was missing. My Ring Finder partner, Dave Boyer, and I went into the water and started a grid search around the dock and Float platform. After searching for about an hour and a half we got out of the water to question Suzanne more about where else she might have lost it. Suzanne came out of the house with her ring in her hand. She explained to us that prior to swimming she took her ring off to wash her hands and put it on the kitchen counter. Unbeknownst to her, her sister picked it up and placed it in a ring holder on the counter. Doubting herself as to the last time she saw it, she thought it had to be when she went swimming. It was a nice outing in the water and Suzanne was a very gracious host and thanked us for our time with a generous reward.

I received a call from Jennifer S. last night telling me she had lost her wedding ring while playing in the water with her son Josh. Jennifer’s friend told her to contact Tom Towsend who is a Ringfinder, Tom referred her to me as I was closer and probably available. After getting all the details as to what happened I told her I would be out to the Park as soon as it opened. The swim area was about the size of 2 football fields but Jennifer was able to narrow my search to between 3 buoys. I started to grid the area for a couple of hours with no results. That day I met Jennifer along with my Ringfinder partner Dave Boyer to check out the area and possibly narrow our search.

The next morning at 7 AM Dave and I started another grid search from the edge of the water to the buoys. After a search of the area without turning up a ring we crossed the grid area the opposite way. On the first pass toward the last buoy I got a good hit on gold and there the ring was in my scoop. After getting out of the water I contacted Jennifer leaving a message.

Jennifer called me soon after my message and I told her « I found the ring » we made arrangements to meet at a local restaurant to give her the ring. The expression and excitement she displayed make being a Ringfinder worth all the effort. Thank you Tom Towsend for the referral.

I received a call last week from Dan H. He was talking to his jeweler (Russell and Ballard Jewelers) who are also friends of mine about replacing his lost wedding ring. A couple years ago while putting in some aluminium edging around his back yard he discovered his ring missing. Dan had lost some weight and the ring was loose. While at the jewelers he was told to contact Me and I could help recover his ring, before having to buy a new one. Dan called me and I came out a few days later after the weather warmed up. My Ring Finder partner, Dave Boyer, came with me to help. After removing the aluminium edging and Dan’s picnic table we started our search of an area about 30′ X 30′. After about 5 minutes I got a faint signal (28) on my Fisher F75 detector. I almost past it up but because it indicated 2″ down I decided to dig a little plug. Immediately, I saw a shiny bit of gold and there it was. Going up to the front door Dan came out and I presented him the ring. At age 77 I can still make the ladies cry when I recover their lost ring but this is a first, I made a very happy man cry.

Jesse L. called me this morning after finding the Ring Finders on line. Jesse was shoveling his deck without gloves and after a few swipes he decided to put on gloves. A few minutes after coming into the house he discovered his new white gold wedding ring was missing. He figured it either came off while shoveling without gloves or when he finished and took off his gloves. After Jesse’s phone call to me I told him we (Dave Boyer my Ring Finder partner) could be there at 1 pm today. Once we got to  the house we went to work on the back deck. There was at least 8″ of snow so we weren’t too concerned about the nails in the deck because the ring would give off a different signal. After checking through all the snow on the deck we didn’t get a good signal. Dave started checking on the ground around the deck and I did too. I used my pin pointer in the deep snow after getting a good signal and the ring was recovered.

I knock on the slider and told Jesse « good news and bad news ». The bad, snow will be gone in the spring, the good, here is your ring. With a big smile and thank you he put his ring back on his finger.

We Have To Be Crazy!! Last night at 8:30 I got a call for a lost ring 1 1/2 hrs north of us. We head out and at 10:00PM we arrived at a bridge over a small river leading to Lake Michigan. Jim and Megan met us at the bridge. Megan lost her wedding rings coming out of the river in about waist deep water. It was pitch dark, raining slightly and thunder and lightning in the distance. Megan used her cell phone light to show us the exact spot where she lost the ring. Jim was dressed for the water so we gave him the metal detector and the scoop. We had him scan his wedding ring and told him to listen for that sound and then dig the target. In about 3 minutes he got a signal and dug a scoop full. Megan shined her light into the scoop and retrieved her ring-speechless at that point. Packing up our gear and heading out safe and sound and a little wet and leaving a very happy couple behind.