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

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.

Last year at this time we were called out to Allendale, MI to meet Karen G. who lost her diamond gold stick pin earring while cutting the grass on her lawn tractor. A branch hit her ear while she was going under a tree. Getting down on our hands a knees with my Gold 4″ coil. That coil was enough to give me a good signal. Step up one year:

We were called by Karen G. again to help her find her earring again while cutting grass and going under another tree in her yard. This time it took 3 trips out there to check a 20′ x 20′ area. It was found with an Equinox 800. Karen now has her ear rings insured.

See you next year. LOL

I received a call from Dimitriy P. yesterday. He was cutting grass between Blueberry bushes while on his tractor. His cell phone was in his pocket and with the bumpy ride it fell out and went under a clump of cut grass. After walking between the rows of bushes where he had been driving the tractor and searching for the cell with no luck he Googled “lost cell phone” and found the Ringfinders. I have Kalamazoo as one of my cities I serve and that was close by. After reading my resume and making a few reference calls I was asked to find his cell phone.

I called my detector friend, Tom Cleary, to help me search the large area. We started at the front of the field and worked our through the Blueberry bushes. After a search on the front of the farm we headed towards the back and that is when Tom called out to me that he found the phone under a clump of grass with his Equinox 800 detector.

I called Dimitriy as he was driving the 2 1/2 hour trip from West of Chicago. We sat in the shade and waited for about 50 minutes for him while also charging up his phone. Upon arrival Dimitriy explained that his friend just bought the Blueberry farm and it had grown up from neglect for a couple years so they had to cut the grass between the rows of bushes. He said the phone wasn’t that expensive except for all the information that was on it. After a few pictures taken he invited us to come down when the Blueberries were ripe and help ourselves. Thank you Tom for the help.

I got a call today from Clayton K. who lost his wedding ring. He explained that he was playing football  on the shore of Lake Michigan in about a foot or two of water when he notices his ring had fallen off. He immediately marked the area where he was when he discovered it was gone. While Clayton was at work this afternoon, my Ringfinder friend Dave Boyer and myself, took the 77 mile trip to help find the ring. When arriving at the cottage’s rented by the family to celebrate the 50th wedding anniversary of Clayton’s grandparents we were greeted by all the family anxiously waiting our arrival. Dave and I got busy searching through the one foot waves and cool summer water, after about 20 minutes Dave got a good signal and called me over to scoop up the sand. Finding nothing I moved my detector a couple of feet at the edge of the lake, where the waves roll in and bury everything in the area, and got a good ring signal. As I dug for the treasure the waves would fill in the hole with more sand. It was like taking one step forward and two steps back. After an unsuccessfully search I gave the job to Dave who dug several scoops of sand and after going down about 18 inches he was able to recover the white gold wedding band.

The family all clapped and took pictures while Clayton’s wife ran the ring up to the cottage to call Clayton for verification that it was his ring. After she came back saying it was his we headed back up the 50 plus stairs to the parking area. It was a happy day for all the family. Seeing that Clayton was at work I had his parents Jennifer and Mike stand in for our book of smile picture.