Heirloom Wedding Ring Found - Menomonee Park, WI

The advertisement read, in part, “Heirloom wedding ring from deceased beloved Grandpa was lost in water 8/21 at Lannon Quarry. Slipped off in the more shallow sandy area (about halfway between the building and the rocky ledge), before the floaty partition that marks off the deeper water.”

Menomonee Falls resident, Marcus Ryczeck, received his late Grandpa Michael Fay’s wedding ring as a gift from his grandmother when he married Alex in 2022 and just a year after his beloved grandpa passed away. Losing the precious ring hurt Marcus deep down where one’s emotions often stay hidden from view. But there was no hiding the sadness from his mom, Kathi. Kathi, reached out to me by text message 8-days later saying, “Maybe you can help us somehow before it’s lost forever.”

A barrage of text messages ensued with the usual line of forensic questioning to establish a timeline of activities and to narrow down the search area. Significant land marks were noted as was the depth of the water at the time Marcus felt the ring leave his finger.

As it turned out I was able to juggle my work schedule and arrived at Menomonee Park late the same afternoon. Setting up a search grid using shoreline structures, I began a systematic sweep of the lake bottom, all the while taking careful note of faint whispers coming from deeper targets. Being a public swimming area, rings can easily get pushed down deeply into the mud and sand. One target emitted a signal consistent with a ring but not one made of 14K gold. I investigated anyway and extracted a titanium wedding band. It was definitely not the ring Marcus lost. Someone else was suffering the loss of a precious wedding ring, perhaps thinking it was lost forever. These thoughts fueled my search efforts.

About 15 feet away from the titanium ring, another ring-like signal registered both in my headset and on the controller. This time the tone and conductivity values were consistent with midgrade gold. A few moments later a precious gold ring, one that had been worn for so many years by Marcus’ beloved grandpa, lay gleaming in my scoop.

I took a photo of it and sent it along with a text message to Kathi, Marcus’ mom, “I’m thinking this is your son’s ring!” The immediate response was, “Oh my Gosh!!! That’s it!!!”

A sweet reunion ensued when the family arrived at the park to pick up the precious love token. The smiles tell the rest of the story, except for one thing. Someone else, without doubt, is still grieving the loss of a titanium wedding ring. Maybe, just maybe, we can add yet another smile to this story.