Lake Geneva Tag | The Ring Finders

Lost Wedding Ring Found at Lake Geneva’s Riviera Beach

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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Sour Summer Turns Sweet

Wednesday, May 29, 2024  

I was settling into a normal Wednesday evening routine of doing the dinner dishes, getting the kids ready for bed, and bedtime reading when a fellow detectorist from Madison texted me and asked if I was up for a hunt.  An all too common tale…a young man lost his wedding band at the beach.  The lost wedding band was just a seven minute drive away at a beach I routinely hunt, so I texted the owner, Ryan, to see if he still needed help.  

Ryan, a high school math teacher from Florida, had finished up his school year and was visiting family in Lake Geneva, WI.  Before going for a swim, he took off his ring and set it on his beach blanket.  Regardless of how it ended up in the sand, his sweet summer trip had suddenly soured.  Inscribed into his wedding band is “with my whole heart, for my whole life.”  Ryan and his wife perhaps needed to lean a bit more into that promise as this treasured memento of their wedding day was lost.

           I met Ryan just as the sun was beginning to sink below the horizon.  He showed me the spot where their blanket was laid down, near a lifeguard stand.  I expanded the search area much wider than I thought necessary and started a grid search.  One of Ryan’s nephews suggested I move closer to the area where their blanket has been.  I didn’t want to miss the ring on my first pass, and explained that I would work my way toward the spot.  It wasn’t long before I hit a strong signal and the ring was found.    

 

          Everyone was excited, and after some photos, the ring was back on Ryan’s finger. 

 It felt so good to see his smile and know I helped, a bit, turn this sour experience sweet again.  And despite the challenges that life will bring, I hope Ryan will always lean into his marriage promise, “with my whole heart, for my whole life.”  This is a good reminder for all of us.

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Lost Wedding Ring in Lake Geneva, WI… Found!

  • from Lake Geneva (Wisconsin, United States)
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The smiles show the ring is returned!

I received a call from fellow Ring Finder, Paul Humphrey, around 8:00 pm, just days after signing up to be a Ring Finder member.  Paul was gracious enough to hand tonight’s recovery off to me, as I live only five minutes from the site.  As sundown was drawing near, I gathered up my gear and headed off to Lake Geneva’s Riveria Beach for my first recovery.

I knew this beach well as I detect on it almost daily in the summer.  It’s a hot spot for Chicagoans to escape to, and it gets lots of foot traffic.  Nimer, his wife Elise, and two children were enjoying a beautiful day at the beach when Nimer waved to Elise from the lake.  The day soured as Nimer felt his gold wedding band of 16 years leave his finger and plunk into the water.  Although only waist deep when lost, hours of searching brought no success.  The family returned to Chicago.

Speaking to Nimer on the phone, I asked a series of questions to roughly pinpoint his location, which hand he wore the ring on, how he waved to Elise, the time, and description of the ring.  I knew I needed to visualize the scene that occurred nine hours earlier.

Found in Lake Geneva, WI USA

I stepped into the water around 8:30 pm.  Dusk was on time and I knew my work would be cut out for me in 30 minutes or less.  There were still many people on the beach, but the area I needed to work in was thankfully vacant.  I said a prayer and began the search.  After finding a nail and pull tab, I was elated to see a large gold wedding band staring up at me through the shimmering water.  I stared at it a moment wondering if my mind was simply creating the image of what I wanted to see.  No, I had found Nimer’s ring.. on my third target and after only 30 minutes of searching.  It was a large, beautiful ring and felt loose even when on my thumb.  I checked the inscription and it matched Nimer’s description.  Success!

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