I received a call from Paula who had lost her two tone Black Hills gold ring while doing yard work earlier this summer. The ring was a gift from her husband when his service to our country in the Air Force took him to South Dakota over 40 years ago. I headed to Augusta after work today and was able reunite Paula after a 15 minute search of her lawn.
I received a call last Friday afternoon from Steve after his wife Kathy dropped her diamond and blue sapphire ring into the water from the Boothbay Harbor foot bridge. The water depth was around 5 feet and rising with the flooding tide, but I was able to recover it despite the challenge of the ring being amongst numerous nails, screws, bottle caps and other metallic items under the bridge.
I was contacted by Rob after his wedding band slipped off his finger and into Flagstaff Lake in Eustis ME, just a stones throw from the Canadian border. His vacation had ended and he returned home, but made arrangements with the owner of the cabin he rented for me to visit and recover the ring after the next renters departed. I made the 5 1/2 hour round trip and found Rob’s titanium ring in 4 feet of water.
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After being referred by fellow Ring Finder Dennis Boothby, who was unavailable, I took a ride up to Waterville this morning to reunite Sidney with his lost wedding band. The ring had been lost at the beginning of the month while clearing grass and brush on his property. Although he had rented a metal detector and tried finding it himself, he was unsuccessful. The search area was large about the size of a football field, but my decision to start at the brush pile proved to be the right choice with a new record for me set, by locating the ring in under a minute from beginning the search. I guess we can both give thanks for a second day in a row, Sidney for having the ring he has worn for 32 years of marriage back on his finger, and I for having picked the right end of that football field to start from. With Christmas coming I will be directing a portion of the generous reward I received toward sponsoring a local child’s Angel Tree wish.
I received a call from Karen after her husband Scott had lost his wedding band in 10 feet of water while swimming laps between the dock and swim float in front of their camp on Thompson Lake in Oxford, ME. Scott had immediately realized he lost his ring and marked the location with a large rock. Using his marker I utilized a spiral search pattern and was able to recover the ring buried in several inches of silt within about 10 minutes of commencing the hunt. The couple will celebrate 27 years of marriage in a few weeks and Scott’s ring is safely back on his finger for that special day and many more to follow.
On Wednesday July 5, 2023, I received a call from Lisa. Lisa explained that her friend had lost her engagement ring at the beach, in Ocean Park, Maine, within the last hour. Lisa went on to explain the her friend was still at the beach, searching for the ring with toy sifters and just running her fingers through the sand. I told Lisa that I would be right there, as I only live about 4 miles from where they were.
I arrived and Lisa met me out on the street and took me to where her friend, Sharon was , and where the ring was lost. Sharon explained that when they arrived at the beach, she sat in the beach chair to apply her sunblock lotion. She removed her ring and placed it in her lap, to apply the lotion. After applying the lotion, Sharon got up, forgetting the ring was in her lap. She immediately realized that the ring was now in the sand and started sifting the sand with her hands, fingers and kids Beach toys. They had no luck with this method and realized they needed a metal detector. Lisa found me by asking a local town association if the had a metal detector. They did not but they did have my business card and Lisa called me immediately.
I had them move their metal Beach chairs and searched the area where Lisa had been sitting. No signals around where the chair was and I started moving away from the chair. About 5-6 feet away from the chair, I received a nice low tone signal and a VDI readout of 12-06 on my CTX-3030. Yup, the engagement ring had been found in literally 2 minutes of searching and Sharon was very very happy to have it back on her finger. Total time from receiving Lisa’s call to recovering the ring was 25-30 minutes.
This will be a birthday that I will never forget.
I traveled to Boothbay, Maine this morning to reunite John with his 1968 class ring from Kansas State University, a reminder for over 50 years of the efforts put forth in earning a degree in physics. The ring was lost as he worked to free his boat from a ledge she had become fetched up on after dropping some friends off at the dock in front of their home a few weeks prior. The search commencing at low tide, took about an hour and half being far from graceful as I sloshed and slipped while scouring the seaweed covered ledge and surrounding mud flats with John anxiously watching from the red Adirondack chair on his friends front lawn. When the cherished ring had been recovered and safely returned to his finger, we chatted for a while about our military service having noted each other’s veteran license plates and I enjoyed hearing about his time as a Air Force pilot during the Vietnam war. To honor his service and that of all our fellow veterans, I will be directing a portion of John’s generous reward to the American Legion Post in Camden, ME.
Most of my Ring Finder post stories begin with someone contacting me to come search an area where they lost a ring. In this case however I found a ring while casually detecting at Old Orchard Beach and then had to try track down the owner. A plea on Craigslist and in the Friends of Ocean Park FB page asking for anyone who had lost a piece of jewelry on the beach to contact me with a description did result in a few inquires, including the person who lost it while vacationing. He gave a description along with sending a photo from their wedding album to confirm. The 14k gold band is now back in New Hampshire on the finger of a man named Dave where it belongs. Dave needed a Ring Finder, and luckily a Ring Finder found his ring and then found him, because the road to reuniting someone with their lost jewelry is sometimes a two way street.
After being alerted by my brother that his employer had lost her keys in the snow outside her house, I made contact with her and headed over to see if I could help. After about 20 minutes I was able to locate the keys and fob in a snow bank the plow had created at the end of her driveway.
I was contacted by Kim whom had lost her wedding band overboard while she and her husband were anchored with some other boats in a small cove on Rangeley Lake, Maine. They saved the GPS coordinates and we returned to the site upon my arrival. The silty bottom became churned up during my search and I found myself in near zero visibility, like diving in chocolate milk. I used about 2 tanks of air before finding the ring a recovering in about eight feet of water about ten feet from the location saved on GPS. Tough search with no way to get bearings in very low visibility. While enjoying a celebratory cold beverage back ashore, conversation turned to dogs so I will be donating a portion of the generous reward I received to P. A. W. S. Animal shelter in Camden, Maine.
