Gregg Larabel, Author at The Ring Finders | Page 3 of 16

My Ring Finder partner, Dave Boyer, called me for some help in locating a diamond gold stick earring that was accidentally knocked off Karen G’s ear while cutting grass on her tractor mower. Karen brushed under a tree branch in her front yard and felt the earring come off. The back of the earring was still on her ear. Dave went out and used his ATPRO with a small coil and Garret pin pointer but could not get a signal after using the other earring as a target. Dave and I went out the following Saturday morning and met Karen’s husband Mark and immediately got to work. I used my Fisher F75 with a 4″ gold finder coil and got a signal on the sample so started a detailed search on my hands and knees making a 4″ grid in the area it was presumed lost. It was very possible that the branch tossed it away as it whipped the earring away. After about 10 minutes on my first forward grid search I got a signal and deep down in the grass roots in almost the exact spot where it came off, I picked out a beautiful Diamond earring. Matching it with the other one made both Karen and Mark very happy. Mark mentioned that if it wasn’t found he would be on the hook to buy Karen another set but it would be larger.   After meeting their dogs, which is a requirement when we go on a Ring Find, we said our good byes and made a couple very happy for Book of Smiles.

I was looking for a lost ring at Beechpoint Christian Campground at Dumont Lake in Allegan, Michigan last week, when I recovered a 2001 class ring from Lourdes High School in Chicago, Illinois. I haven’t found the original ring I was looking for yet but I found a great story with this class ring. There was a name inscribed inside the ring DaVonia C. F. so I looked her up on Facebook and sent her a message. After contacting several of her friends from FB, she was convinced this was not a scam. After taking the ring to my friend, Kenneth, from Russell and Ballard Jewelers to get cleaned, I called the local Fox 17 TV station and asked them if they would like to run a feel good story. I set up a time today to drive the 360 mile round trip from Grand Rapids, MI to Chicago where DaVonia lives and works to present her with her ring. I contacted Fox 32 TV station in Chicago to meet us at her work. After an interview and pictures we parted company and friends forever. I feel pretty good that at age 75 I can still make the ladies cry.

before cleaningafter cleaning 

I got a call from my friend Tom C. needing help finding a Platinum ring, with diamonds, lost in the surf. We went down at 6 AM before light to make sure we were the first ones in the water. Adam B. and his bride to be, Rosie, were playing volleyball in the water when she hit the ball and shot the ring off her finger. We searched for 2 hours when I got a good signal in about 4 feet of water just under the sand. I showed the ring to Tom and we immediately called Adam who was in Chicago and Adam said “We will be there in 2 hours”. What a beautiful and happy couple. Adam said, “we were angels sent from God to be in the right place at the right time”. The ring was given to him by his mother so he immediately called her, in New York, and said it was recovered. After many pictures, hugs and smiles we all went our own ways. Not before giving 2 warnings to Rosie 1. Get it insured and 2. Never wear it in the water.

I received a call today from Laura K. asking for help in finding her Diamond/Platinum band at Oval Beach. She was vacationing with her mom and sister and Monday afternoon did a little sunbathing. While packing up that afternoon, Laura folded the chair which she placed her ring in the cup holder and forgot about it and walked off to her car. I gave her 3 options as to what would happen to her ring seeing that it has been 2 days since it was left behind. Option 1: someone laid in the area to sunbath and found it in the sand, Option 2: Detectors come out to the beach almost everyday and comb the beach for coins, rings and other treasurers and Option 3: is that I will find it with my medal detector.

When Dave Boyer, my detecting partner, and myself got to the beach it was packed. Laura said they were sitting next to the boardwalk leading down to the water. We had to walk around bathers trying not to interfere with their day at the beach. It was a hopeless search so I gave Laura a call to try to pinpoint the spot a little closer. She told me an area near the boardwalk where a family of about 10 people were sitting. I came up to them and politely ask them if we could check the area where they were sitting because they may be sitting on a beautiful diamond/platinum ring. They all got excited and laughed but graciously moved over about 10 feet. After they moved I started checking the area and 5 feet into the search I found the ring about 6 inches down in the sand. I yelled “I found it” everyone started clapping and bathers from all over look and started clapping. “you guys are great” “Nice job guys” and on and on. The cherry on the top is when Joe, a guy we found his wedding ring for last year, 1 day before his anniversary out in the water, yelled out “they found my wedding ring here last year”.

I immediately called Laura who was eating with her mom and sister to give her the good news. Here are some pictures of Oval beach, the ring and Laura with a big smile.

Got a call from Ashley S. last week that her husband, Nick S. was tubing in the river and came across a big tree branch that he tried to push away while floating down the rapids. His ring got caught on the branch and popped off. Although the water was crystal clear and shallow the current was too fast and he could not find it. My detector friend Dave Boyer and I went into the river and headed to the second bridge are per Nicks instructions. After searching the rocky bottom for a couple of hours with no ring we met up with Ashley and Nick. Nick got into the water with us and started orienting himself and discovered we were in the wrong area. We started looking in the area where the branch was but still didn’t find his ring. Wedding rings have special meanings to people and Nicks ring was no different but because it was a Titanium ring he felt he could get another one with not a lot of expense. As detectors we come across a lot of Titanium, Tungsten and Stainless Steel rings so I suggested that he pick one of mine out that would fit him. He found one that was like his old ring and it fit. We now have a happy husband and a happier wife. Congratulations to the both of you.

After receiving an email about a lost wedding ring I immediately contacted Curtis R. and got the scoop as to how he lost his unique Tungsten Carbide wedding ring. He was swimming at Pleasant Lake with his wife Chelsey and his children he was standing in water 2 t0 3 feet deep and shook his hands up and down and shortly after that noticed his size 13 wedding ring was missing. It is a unique ring because it had a Hawaiian wood wrapped around the outside and it was the one he was married with so it was also special to him.

We made arrangements to meet at the lake the next day around 2 pm. I began the 100 mile trip to the lake without incident and met Curtis and his family and suited up for the search. He pointed out about a 50 by 25 foot swimming area he was in and I started my grid search. After one sweep N and S, I focus my search from the deeper end to the seawall. About 6 feet from the metal seawall I got a good signal and in the scoop was his ring.

Smiles and a yell “he found it” was made. after some pictures and a handshake I told him he was officially married again after a week. It was a PLEASANT experience finding his ring.

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!

I got in touch with Evan A. from an email saying that he lost his wedding ring while finishing his landscaping around his house. While searching on line for metal detectors he came across Lost My Stuff and sent out an email. As a subscriber, I contacted Evan right away. I told him that I was with The Ring Finders and got his phone number off the LMS site. Dave Boyer, my fellow Ring Finder and I were on our way to another search and told Evan that we could come out to his house on Thursday evening. When we got to his house we looked at the fresh wood chips that he had spread around the flower beds and within 5 minutes I found his ring under a bush. Evan and his wife were at work so they put their trust in us as strangers who replied to a lost ring request.  He was impressed “by the response time and the integrity these two individuals possessed”. It reminded him of prior military days in the Air Force, “where he was sworn to uphold our three core values, integrity, service before self and excellence in all we do”.

Received a call from (Judge) Joe H. today, the beach patrol gave him my name and cell number. He was out in waste deep water throwing a football when his gold wedding band fell off. I was on my way to pick up my Ring Finder partner Dave Boyer for a search of an inland lake when I got the call so I told Joe “I will be there in 45 minutes”. We arrived at 2:10 pm, made our introductions and got to work.  As you can see in the picture the waves were 2 to 3 feet high and very difficult to search an area doing a grid search. Joe stood out in the water where he said he was playing and Dave and I started a search in the area. In less than 10 minutes I got a very good signal with my Fisher CZ21, the harder part was trying to steady myself to scoop the prize. One scoop and after the sand sifted out I had Joe reach in and pull out a gold wedding band. It was his, as there was a wedding date (8/12/94). His anniversary to Leah H. is tomorrow and I’m sure there will be a nice celebration now. Joe is a farmer, football coach and a judge visiting from Illinois. Welcome to Pure Michigan.

I received a call yesterday from Laura R. referred to me by a fellow Ring Finder Tom Towsend, she lost a ring that was given to her from her grandmother through an aunt who both past away. Laura and her family are vacationing in a family home on Lake Michigan from Dallas, Texas. Saturday night after a party at the Yacht Club Laura was down on the dock with her brother securing their boat when she slipped into the water, while Laura’s brother was pulling Laura out of the water her ring slipped off her hand.

This morning my diving partner Greg Lewis and I went out to the boat dock and met Laura. After about and hour of searching in a very weedy lake the ring was recovered and returned to Laura’s finger. It was a pleasure meeting Laura and learning about her background as an artist in the Dallas-Fort Worth area.