Uncategorized Category | Page 259 of 480 | The Ring Finders

I received a call from a gentleman who said he was preparing to move from his home but prior to doing so he hoped I could help him to search one more time for his wedding ring.

His story: « Around five years ago, I was playing basketball in the driveway with my two sons. I was afraid I might lose my wedding ring and so placed it in a small pocket in my jacket that had a snap. We continued to play for about an hour when I reached into my pocket for the ring and it was gone. The three of us searched the entire yard, the driveway and the side yard, but found nothing. I even borrowed a friend’s metal detector and still had no luck. Since we are now in the process of selling our house, I wanted to try one last time to find the ring, so I searched the internet and found the Ring Finders. I called Doug and somehow he was available to come out that same day. He was able to find my ring just below the surface in my front yard. »

I happened to have my gear with me that day and so I offered to come over after work and search. I discussed the loss with the gentleman’s two sons and his wife and they walked me through what they remembered of the day the ring was lost. I started a slow grid search of the area where they felt the ring would have possibly ended up and after about thirty minutes I was getting worried. There was a lot of metal in the yard and after widening my search pattern, ‘boom’, my detector indicated a very strong signal that was close to the surface and much stronger than I would have imagined a ring would make. After carefully cutting a wide plug, thinking it was possibly a can, I flipped the plug and the beautiful wedding ring was exposed!

We were all surprised and I was very happy to have been able to help return this man’s wedding ring prior to his family’s move!

On this cold and dreary day, Gregg Larabel, my fellow ringfinder and I went looking for the ring Ryan lost while he was mowing his lawn on his riding lawn mower.  Like all of West Michigan this time of year, Ryan’s fairly large front yard was covered with leaves–and the front yard is where Ryan thought he probably lost his ring.  We started hunting right away and found a few coins, then, after about an hour of hunting, I got a good signal and parted the leaves to see his ring lying right on top of the ground near a tree.  I stuck a stick in the ground to mark it, and left it where it was.

Ryan was not home from work yet, so we raked up a few leaves from his driveway while waiting and worked on how we were going to surprise him with the ring.  As he arrived home with the two kids in tow we told him we did not have much luck, and showed him the coins we had found.  We gave him our story that there must be some kind of buried pipe under the lawn over by that tree.  I gave him my pin-pointer and told him to check that area near the stick I had stuck in the ground.  It took him a couple of seconds to move some leaves and see his ring for the big surprise.  His reaction made our day!

I received a call this afternoon from a gentleman who had lost his wedding ring while playing basketball with his sons at his home. He told me he had felt the ring slip off of his finger while dunking a ball and that he thought that it may have bounced off of his leg as he was coming down. He knew the ring was in his backyard and he thought it was probably on the ground close to the base of the basket ball hoop.

After searching by hand and with a borrowed metal detector he had offered the neighborhood kids a reward if they could find it for him and yet after two weeks he still had not been able to locate his ring. Frustrated and wondering if perhaps a squirrel or raccoon might have carried it off, he asked some friends on-line if they had any suggestions. One of his friends had heard something about the Ring Finders and he suggested a call to a local member which is when we connected.

We arranged to meet and search after work today and though the ring was not as close to the hoop as we had initially hoped, widening my search area a bit I finally did hear the strong response I was hoping for.

I am very happy to have been able to help find this man’s wedding ring and as you can see, he was smiling also!

A one-acre house lot developed in 1929 has evolved into a park-like setting sprawling with mature trees, ornamental bushes and perennials of every description, not to mention its thick, well-established lawns. This was the scene where Beloit resident and property owner, John Clark, lost his custom-made wedding ring on October 25th while mowing and cleaning up freshly fallen leaves. He knew the ring was on his hand that morning but when he removed his work gloves at the end of the day, his ring finger was empty of its cherished love token. But where to begin looking?

I received a phone call from John the next evening. His son, Eric, who was visiting from Colorado, found The Ring Finder’s Directory online along with my contact information. After questioning John about his activities on the day of the loss, it was clear the ring had to be somewhere on the one-acre estate. Anyone who has embarked on such a search will understand the magnitude and challenge of locating a postage-sized piece of metal in such conditions. A needle-in-the-haystack metaphor seemed an appropriate description.

My wife and I arranged to meet John the next day. It was gorgeous. John met us at the door and introduced us to Kay, his lovely wife of 54 years. Kay showed us the ring on her finger which matched John’s. Mountains were carved into the ring’s circumference with three suns rising between their peaks, each representing one of their three children.

John retraced his activities as we walked around the property, stopping to remark on places he had stopped his lawn tractor or gathered up leaves and fallen branches. He had woken up in the night remembering how he had thrown some branches over a steep, leaf-covered embankment. I set to work sweeping these strategic areas with my XP Deus detector coupled with a High-Frequency elliptical coil. Ninety-years of human occupancy and numerous roof replacements impregnated the ground with nails and metallic debris, making it necessary to fine tune my equipment often.

After two hours of searching, the ring came to light in among the foliage where it had come to rest. I didn’t let on to John right away that I had found his ring. Instead, I made pretense of stopping for coffee and of moving to the next search area. It’s my sinister nature to create a memorable reveal. But I didn’t wait long—John was in enough agony.

Holding out my palm with the ring nestled in it, I stated in a matter of fact way that his ring couldn’t be in the lawn area because it was in my hand! Hugs ensued. Time to celebrate! And John’s smile tells the rest of the story.

Three years ago I met Phil and Carolyn O. at a college bowling tournament. Their son, Justin, bowls with my grandson, Chase B., for Robert Morris University. They also have a daughter LeAnn who attends the tournaments with them. We frequently talk about my ring finds during the bowling season and it makes for good conversation. A few months ago LeAnn asked if I could find a key to her condo that she lost while on a 6 mile walk around the Spring Lake, MI area. Needless to say we could not find her $2 key but while on the 6 mile walk she mentioned a ring that she had lost 10 years ago. This is where the story picks up. When LeAnn was born her dad gave her mom the gold ring with LeAnn’s birthstone and small diamond, at age 16 her mom passed it off to her. When she was 18 and at her friends cottage, at Matteson Lake, she fell off the end of the dock and her ring fell off. Now ten years later my Ring Finder partner, Dave Boyer, and I went out to the cottage. The water bottom was very muddy but after about 10 minutes the ring was recovered in about 10″ of black mud. The picture below shows how it was blackened and bent but after I took it to my jeweler, he cleaned it up to look like new.  LeAnn wanted to show her appreciation and gave me my own ring, A Ring Pop!