I received a text from Anita on April 4th. She explained that the home that she hand her late husband built 22 years ago in Holly Springs, MS burned down in December. Sadly, the home was a total loss, with the fire consuming almost everything imaginable. Anita, with the help of some family members scoured the burned out remains and were able to salvage several items of jewelry, sterling flatware and other items that didn’t burn or melt. There was one ring in particular that Anita couldn’t find, which was a gift from her father to her mother on her parent’s 25th wedding anniversary. Anita had very little hope that ring that her mother once wore daily, and she too wore every day since her mother passed away would be found in the scattered burned out rubble of what used to be her beautiful home. I was her last hope. We agreed that I would make the almost four hour drive on April 14th and search for up to three days. Anita put me up in a cottage at a beautiful golf course, which was awesome and greatly appreciated.
It was hard work, shoveling, sifting and lifting sections of charred structure to get to areas of the house where Anita believed her most-sentimental and valuable jewelry could be. In less than one hour I was finding rings, some gold and some platinum, but still not THE ring. About four hours into my search I found THE ring. I took a pic and sent it to Anita. She was beyond relieved and said she was content with the results of my search, but I couldn’t stop there. I knew I could find more. I worked another four hours that day and another five hours the following day. With so much work to be done, I stopped counting after thirty rings, along with some gold chains and bracelets, many of which had also been passed down from Anita’s mother and mother-in-law. Before I left, I met one of Anita’s daughters and she was hoping I could look for some of her jewelry that was lost in the fire. I was able to locate one of the jewelry boxes that was full of jewelry, with a few of the rings being ones passed down from her grandmother.
Anita cried tears of joy as we looked over all of the recovered items. I wish I could have found every piece of missing jewelry and sterling flatware, but I am comfortable knowing that the most important items to Anita were re-united with her, so she can one day pass them down to her daughters. I was blessed by being able to help such a wonderful lady in her time of need. Now Anita can start the long process of having the lot cleared and new house being
No Comments »