Metal Detecting Service North Myrtle Beach SC Tag | The Ring Finders

Sprinkler Solenoid Valve Found Carolina Shores NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a call last Wednesday from a repeat customer asking if I could help him find a sprinkler solenoid valve in his yard. We agreed that I’d meet him today, Thursday, Oct 29th. When I arrived, Jim was waiting for me in the yard. He showed me the suspected area where the solenoid was buried. He told me that he had had some landscaping done and the protective boxes had been covered up with dirt and rocks. When I turned on my Equinox 800, I was getting all kinds of EMI (electromagnetic interference), so I turned down the sensitivity. Luckily, Jim had another solenoid that he had already found that I used to test. I knew I was looking for negative numbers and probably in the -4 to -5 range on the VDI. The valves are mainly plastic with very little metal (basically screws, a spring, and some copper wire) in them. When I ran the coil over the exposed solenoid, I wasn’t getting much of a signal. I cranked the sensitivity back up to 25 (max) and was able to get enough of a signal I could distinguish the signal from the interference. After checking a different signal that turned out to be nothing, I swung over an area more into the bushes. I got the low grunt sound and the numbers I was looking for. Jim started digging and after a few inches of dirt and rocks, he spotted the cover protecting the solenoid.  We found exactly what he was looking for. Jim for holding on to my number and giving me a call. So glad I could help.

Jim -Thanks, for holding on to my number and giving me a call!

Jim

       

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White Gold Wedding Band Set Lost in the Dry Sand, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC (with Video)

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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This recovery started on Monday, Aug 27th about 1:10 pm, with a text message from Rachel saying, “Hi Jim. Am I able to hire you to search around our beach chairs for my wedding rings?” The text had her phone number, so I called her to get a little more detail. She told me that she took her ring set off and put them in her cover-up pocket to put on suntan lotion. A short time later she took the cover-up off, forgetting about the set. Within seconds, she remembered about them being in the pocket, and they were gone. She was sure they were around the beach chairs. Unfortunately, I wasn’t available for at least an hour or two, but she said she wasn’t going anywhere until she was sure the area was checked.

I called her back about 1:45 pm saying I’d be there in 30-45 minutes. When I got there she was in the parking lot talking to friends. We walked out on the beach and across the sand to where her husband Rob was sitting. The search area was maybe 1.5X1.5 ft.  I had my Equinox 800 with me, turned it on and started swinging. With the ring set being white gold, I knew the VDI (Visual Display Indicator) would show between 8-12, depending on the size of the rings. Within seconds I had an 11 VDI and a strong signal next a beach chair. I asked Rachel if she’d move the beach chair so I could be sure I wasn’t getting interference from it. I swung my machine back over the spot and BINGO! I had to take 2 scoops to get the target out of the hole. I didn’t ask, but I assumed that Rachel and Rob had tried to find the ring set and moved enough sand to bury the ring a little deeper. When I spread the sand out on the beach, Rachel spotted her ring before I did and quickly picked it up. There were a few very happy tears of relief and a big hug from Rachel, who didn’t think she’d get her precious treasure back.

Special thanks to my son, Mike, who’s visiting from CT and took the video for the story.

Rachel and Rob – Thank you for trusting me to help find your lost treasure. Have a great rest of your vacation!!

Jim

   

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White Gold Wedding Band Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Thursday night about 9 pm I got a text from Kayla saying, “Hello! Sorry for the late text but I just found your phone number online – I lost my wedding ring today at North Myrtle, would you be able to help us try to find it tomorrow?” I text her back asking her to call me and included my phone number. I didn’t hear anything else until this morning when I woke up to the following voice mail. “Good morning, Jim, my name is Kayla. I had texted you last night. I thought you could possibly help me find my ring that I had lost yesterday on the beach. We are staying at the Tide Master Condos here in North Myrtle Beach and the ring was lost yesterday while I was kind of in very very shallow waters. I was with my daughter, and it just slipped off my finger. So, I was hoping maybe you could help us. I don’t know it might be lost forever, but if you wanna give me a call back, thank you.”  I checked yesterday’s tides and saw low tide was around 11 am and high tide a little after 5 pm. Today’s tides would be around noon and 6 pm. It was already a little after 10 am when I called her, and I asked her two of the three more important questions. She already told me how deep she was, so I asked about what time she lost it, and did she know the area. She responded she lost it about 2 pm and she knew the area. I told her I’d be there about 11:30 pm. Two pm put it right about mid-tide. We’ve had some horrible surf conditions, with strong sea breezes, and rip currents. I knew that a lot of sand would have been pushed up on the beach, making any targets buried deeper than normal.

I actually arrived a little early, and as I made my way out to the beach, I called her and told her I was there. We met on the beach, and she showed me the suspected area she lost her ring. I started an east/west grid search just below the slope on the beach working perpendicular to the beach. I was finding very few targets and as expected they were deep. She told me her ring was white gold with diamonds. Ladies’ white gold can range from low single digits to low teens depending on size, on my Equinox 800. After a couple of hours, I had detected the entire lower portion of the beach all the way out to the south end and wasn’t finding her ring.  I decided to change course and started a parallel grid search starting from my perpendicular grid at the bottom of the slope working towards the high tide line and covering the entire area behind the resort. At some point, a young gentleman came up and started talking to me, who I learned was Kayla’s husband Matt. Matt told me he had a metal detector but hadn’t brought it with him. In the process of our conversation, I asked him what he remembered and what time he thought she lost it. He said he thought it was around 3:15-3:45 pm. Good info because that would put it a little higher on the slope. Kayla had joined us, and we talked a little bit and they both went back up to their spot on the beach. A little while later I got an iffy and faint signal that was jumping from 9 to 13. Ok, I’m in the zone of white gold. I dug four to five big scoops of sand out of the hole, each time checking the hole. Which the hole had grown to close to a foot deep before I finally got the target out of the sand. I spread the sand out with my foot and ran the coil over the area. Boom, I had a solid 10 reading and looked through the sand. There it was, just lying there waiting to be found. I hollered at Kayla who didn’t hear me the first time, so I yelled again. When she heard me and turned around, I held her ring up in the air. She flew down the beach! I asked her what her ring looked like, and she explained it as I held it closed up in my hand. Then I showed it to her and asked, “Look like this?” Her happy tears started flowing and I got a huge hug. Matt followed shortly and shook my hand. I heard loud applause coming from the upper beach from the people that had been watching me for the last 3 hours. A few ladies even came down to see what was going on.

Kayla and Matt – So happy I was able to find and return your lost treasure. Thank you for trusting me to help.

Jim

   

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Water Main Meter and Shut off Box Covered and Lost, Found in Longs, SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a call shortly before 2:30 pm on Sunday, June 30th from Perry asking if I could help find the Water Meter and shut off that had been covered up with dirt and new grass. I asked him to send me the address and I’d be there in about 15 minutes. Before I left my house, I ran my detector over my own water box to see what numbers on the Nox 800 I was looking for.

When I arrived, I met Perry in the driveway, and he showed me the suspected area. He also filled in the details as to what happened. Back in October of 2023, a local telephone and cable company was installing cable optics and broke the water line in the process. The company fixed the water line but drug their feet on fixing the yard. During the course of repair, the company brought in heavy equipment that sat idle for a couple of days. During those two days, the machine sank in the soil adding additional damage to the yard. Fast forward 8 months and the yard looks good with nice green grass. Within the last week or so, Perry’s neighbor asked if he knew where her water shut off box was. Perry had taken a picture of the area and thought he knew where it was. After probing the area with a 6 ft pole, he wasn’t able to find it. In the process of my search, Perry’s wife Shelley joined us and we were trying to figure out where this target was. I did the small area that was in the picture and nothing. I expanded out about two feet from the street and got the signal I was looking for. Perry dug the dirt and grass off the top of the meter, and everything was good again.

Perry/Shelley – thanks for allowing me to help find the lost water meter box.

Jim

 

 

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3 Gold Rings Lost in the Sand, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Shortly after 7 pm, I got a call from Allison saying she had lost 3 rings (all gold) in the dry sand that was probably under water by now. She told me that one of the rings was her wedding band and the other 2 were 14k. She asked if I could help find the rings. I asked her about what time she lost them, and she replied around 4 pm. I asked her if we could meet at 9:30pm and if she’d send me the address. She agreed to the time and sent the address, The address wasn’t coming up so I asked for the address again. Her phone did an auto correct the first time but got it right the second time. As time passed, I was thinking of the time of loss and low tide and text her asking if we could meet at 8:30 instead. She agreed so we were set.

When we met on the beach, Allison introduced me to her best friend Hannah. The 3 of us walked down the beach to the suspected loss area. On the way, I asked Allison how the rings were lost. She explained she took them off to apply sunscreen and put them in the cup holder of the beach chair. As the tide started coming in they moved their chairs to higher ground. After a short time, they packed up to go to dinner. It was while they were driving to dinner that she realized she forgot to take her rings out of the cup holder. They went back to the condo and went through everything they had on the beach with no luck. Allison said she had called her mother and told her about the loss. She said her mother called her back giving her my information and she called me. We got to the area that both Allison and Hannah agreed was the area they had been sitting. They were basing it off a trash can near the dunes. I turned on my Nox 800 and went to work. I was looking for VDI (visual display indicator) of around 13. I did a north/south grid and came up empty. I went back to Allison and told her I didn’t think we were in the right area because I came up with nothing. She was on the phone and suddenly said “there’s a new development!!” She asked if the trash cans got moved and I told her no, they get emptied in the mornings, but rarely get moved. We walked back down the beach to where we came across the access point and spotted another trash can. Allison and Hannah picked a new spot based off that trash can and I started a new grid line running east/west, perpendicular to the tide line. On my second line I hit 3 separate targets, all registering 11-13. I dug the first target and Bingo; I had the 1st gold ring sticking out of the sand. I held it up and hollered at Allison. Both she and Hannah came flying down the beach. I handed the ring to Allison to identify. One down, two to go. The next target I dug up was the wedding band. As I reached down and picked it up and handed it to Allison, the tears came rushing out. She was overwhelmed, as was I. Back to work, I pulled out the 3rd ring. Mission accomplished, all 3 rings were back where they belong, and Allison couldn’t have been happier.

Allison – Thank your mother for me for sending you, my way. Also, for trusting me to help find your lost treasures. It was my pleasure.  All the best to you in your new profession as a Dentist, everybody loves Dentists!

Jim

 

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Lady’s Yellow Gold Wedding Ring Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach, SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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On Thursday, just before 4 pm, I got a text saying, “Is this ring finders? We have a lost wedding ring out there in the ocean today, north myrtle beach. My mother has had it for 44 years 🙁 I called the number attached to the text and spoke with Sara. She told me that her, her mother, Debbie, and her sister, Kadie had arrived about 1 pm for a girl’s week. Her mother had gone out shortly after arrival to about knee deep in the surf. She suddenly got hit by a big wave and got knocked over. Sara also said her mother was tumbling around in the water and when she finally stood up; her wedding ring was gone. I asked Sara about what time this happened, and she told me about 1 pm. This was good news because high tide was right around 1 and it was now shortly before 4 so the tide was receding.  I told Sara I’d be there in 15-20 minutes, grabbed my Equinox 800 and was on my way.

When I arrived at the condo, Sara was waiting for me in the parking lot and gave me a parking pass. On our way out to the beach she reiterated the details and said she was sure of the location. Once on the beach, I met Debbie and Kadie. One thing that was very obvious to me was that these young ladies really love their mother. I could tell Debbie was very upset but held her emotions in check. Both Kadie and Sara showed me the search area and it was maybe 25 yards across. I confirmed that the metal was yellow gold and from the picture they showed me, I was expecting a 12/13 on the VDI (visual display indicator). I noticed Debbie had gone back to their room, while Sara and Kadie found a spot on the beach to watch. I started a perpendicular grid search at the far north boundary line.  Since the loss happened over 3 hours ago by now, I expected the ring to be in the wet sand and not in the ocean. Nonetheless, I ran my grid line out to about thigh deep. I was about 3 lines short of the southern boundary line and in the wet sand when I got a solid 13 on the VDI. I took a scoop of sand and laid it out on the beach. I spread the sand out with my foot and saw a little glimmer of gold and the outline of a ring. BINGO! I reached down and picked up the ring and held it up for Sara and Kadie to see. They both saw me at the same time, I think one of them gave a little scream of excitement, and literally flew down to me. I didn’t want to give it to them until I had washed the sand off in the ocean, they were patient. When they had their hands on it they were so excited. They quickly called Debbie and gave her the good news. I couldn’t see her, but one of the girl’s said Debbie was on the balcony waving her hands. What a feeling it was to hand Debbie back her ring of 44 years. She had called her husband when it happened and gave him the bad news. I got to hear her call him back and give him the good news; he was very excited for her. I love these lost item reunions.

Sara and Kadie – Thank you so much for trusting me to help find your mother’s special wedding ring.

Debbie – I’m so happy to have gotten your ring back to you. You guys enjoy your girl’s week.

Jim

     

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Man’s Platinum Wedding Band Lost in the Sand – Found and Returned Kure (Cure-y) Beach NC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Right around 12:30 pm on Friday, August 18th, 2023, I got a call from Adib, saying he had lost his Platinum Wedding Band in the sand. He asked me if I had any advice on how to find it. There really isn’t any, other than getting down on your hands and knees and try sifting through the sand. I’ve had a couple of situations where the individuals tried finding it themselves and ended up moving the item feet from where it was dropped. I asked Adib not to dig, if he was, because he could either move it or bury it. He was also concerned with my travel time and didn’t want to see me drive over 3 hours round trip. I assured him that’s what I do when somebody loses something, and I didn’t have a problem with it. I grabbed my Equinox 800 and started my trip.

When I got there, I met Adib at his rental and we walked out to the beach. As we walked, I found out that he was there from San Francisco, CA. attending one of his buddy’s bachelor party. He said that he had taken his ring off and put it in his lap to apply suntan lotion. At some point, the ring ended up disappearing in the dry sand. He also said that he and his friends had been searching for the ring and when I told him not to dig, they stopped. Everybody had pretty much left the chairs and other items sit where they were so the area was well marked. Once I got a visual on the search area, we moved the chairs, and I started a small grid search in maybe a 10X10 ft square. After just one grid line, I got a strong 15 on the VDI (visual display indicator). The problems I had were the target was reading 8-10 inches deep on the depth meter, which was deep for only being lost for 3 hours. Secondly for a platinum ring, I was expecting a lower number in the teens. So I honestly thought that target was trash. I did take a couple of scoops but left the hole and continued the grid. After finishing the search area with no other targets, I went back to the hole. I took another couple of scoops and had the target out of the hole. I ran the coil over the clump of sand, found the target and scooped it up. I gently shook out the excess sand, and then I heard the sweet sound of metal rattling in the scoop. Looked in the scoop, saw the ring and held the scoop out for Adib to pull his ring out. Adib was thrilled he had his ring back. He ended up taking a selfie of him and I with him holding his ring up to send to his wife. This never gets old!

Adib – thank you for letting me help find your lost treasure.

Jim

   

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Platinum Engagement Ring Lost at High Tide, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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I got a call from Ashley about 8:15 pm saying she had lost her engagement ring between 8th Ave and 10th Ave South and wanted to know if I could help. First thing I asked her was if she could narrow the distance down some, 2 blocks is a large search area. She narrowed down to around 9th Ave S. I then asked what time and how deep she was in the water. She said between 5-5:30 and ankle. Perfect, she was right at high tide. I told her I could be there in 15 minutes.

When I got to their rental and got out of the car, she met me in the driveway. She told me that a friend suggested she call Donnie, who he had worked for. I told her that Donnie was my son-in-law and had helped me before. Ashley and her finance, Cole walked me out to the beach and out to where Donnie was detecting. I told Donnie that Ashley had called me, but this was his search. We agreed that we’d split the beach in half and I’d go north and he’d take south. He had already done a north/south grid search down the slope, which cut out a lot of the area. I started an east/west search from his last grid line out to about thigh deep. After just a few minutes, I got a solid 10 VDI on the Equinox 800 which is what a platinum ring would show up as. When I met up with Donnie on the beach, he also had one of my granddaughters, Maris with him. When I started digging the target she came over with a flashlight. I got the target out of the hole and spread the sand out on the beach. I asked her for the flashlight, and then realized it was a pinpointer. I stuck the pinpointer in the sand looking for the target. As I found the target and pushed the ring out of the sand, Maris said “There it is!!”  This was her first ring recovery. She was so excited you’d think it was her ring we found. I gave the ring to Donnie to surprise Ashley when we got back to the rental. He got her, she was very happy. At some point she told me that they were getting married Sept 6th.

Ashley – Thank you for calling me, glad I could help!

Jim

   

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Wedding Band and Engagement Ring Lost in the Ocean at Cherry Grove SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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About 8 p.m. on Sunday, Aug 6th, I got a text with a picture from Ariel. The text said, “My daughter lost this ring today, in the ocean right in front of 53rd N Myrtle Beach. She also lost her wedding ring which goes with this but she is more concerned with the engagement ring.” I didn’t see the text until about 3 hours later, and responded asking what time and how deep she was. Ariel responded back saying, “It was high tide, around 12:30-1:00 pm. She was waist deep. There is a walk through at 53rd street and we were to the right about 100 feet.” I did a quick check of the tide tables and saw the next low tide was around 6:30 am Monday. I texted Ariel asking if there was a chance that someone could meet me in the morning around 7 am to show me the area. She responded “Absolutely, see you at 7.”

I got there a little early Monday morning and texted Ariel that I was there. I then marked off about a 100 feet and started an east/west grid search. Shortly after that Ariel, her husband Dan, and her daughter Hailey and her husband Justin showed up. I learned the wedding band and engagement were White Gold. This told me I was looking for a low number on the Equinox 800. Combined, they had done everything right. They had used a stationary landmark higher on the beach to mark where Hailey had lost her rings. I repositioned myself another 30 plus feet down the beach and started another grid search. Not too long after that, I got an iffy signal that would occasionally hit a 5. Ok, that’s what I was looking for. I dug a couple of scoops and got the target out of the sand. Earlier, Hailey had explained what the wedding band looked like. After spreading the sand out with my hands, I saw Hailey’s wedding band. They had moved down the beach and came running when I held Hailey’s ring up in the air and called her name. One ring found with one to go. I searched in a 10X10 foot square in and around the hole I dug to find the wedding band with negative results. My thinking was if both rings came off together, then both rings should be within a foot of each other. By now I was losing the tide, so I called Matt Fry, TRF Myrtle Beach and asked if he’d like to help later that afternoon. He didn’t hesitate to lend a hand.

Matt and I both showed up about 5 pm that afternoon ready to find the engagement ring. We split the area in half, he went north and I went south. We’d been out there a while, when a couple of buddies, who were out metal detecting the beach, stopped and joined in on the search. Now there were 4 guys with 3 different metal detectors searching from above the high tide line out to about knee deep and from north to south. We were grid searching, overlapping, and basically searching the entire beach for more than an hour with absolutely no luck. Again, the tide had changed so we called it a night. The 4 of us stood out there trying to figure out what could have happened to the approximate size 3 engagement ring with a pretty good size diamond on it.

I had a hard time letting this one go, so I text Ariel telling her that I wanted to try a different machine, my White’s PI and look again Tuesday evening at around 7 pm. I had another ring search pop up that I thought I could find quickly and still be at Hailey’s spot to search. Things don’t always work out as planned so I rescheduled Hailey’s search for 7 am on Wednesday. Wednesday morning I got there and got the area confused. I grid searched south of the area which worked out because the currents on Sunday, the day of the loss, were running to the south. Ariel showed up just as I was finished and showed me the right area. So I made another trip out with the PI on Wednesday evening and did another grid search and still wasn’t able to find the engagement ring. I just don’t have an answer as to what may have happened to Hailey’s engagement ring.

Hailey – I’m really sorry I couldn’t get both rings back to you but thank you for trusting me to try.

Jim

   

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Sentimental Sterling Silver Necklace Lost in the Ocean, Found and Returned North Myrtle Beach SC

  • from North Myrtle Beach (South Carolina, United States)
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Just about 3:30 p.m. on Friday, July 28th, I got a text saying “Is this the guy who finds rings and stuff at the beach? I don’t know how to word it better.” I responded saying, “Yes, what you got?” He responded, “So I just lost a chain maybe 1 hour ago and I’m at a place named crescent sands. I was out body-surfing and it fell off and I’m not sure if it’s been washed up or not. I’ve had the chain for over 10 years and was wondering if you possibly could give me any advice on finding it?” At this point, it’d be easier to talk to him than text, so I called him. We introduced ourselves and I learned his name was Anson. I got a few more details, including confirming the time and how deep he was in the water. A quick check of the tide tables, and he was waist deep a little over an hour before high tide. This was good, in that, the closer I could get out there near low tide, the necklace should be in the wet sand. I told Anson I’d be there at 9 p.m. which was about an hour before low tide. Meanwhile I’m watching the weather and it looks more and more like a thunderstorm is brewing.

About 8 p.m. the skies were clouding up and the light rain started. I decided to get there early and try and beat the storm. I arrived at the condo and text Anson saying, “I’m here early to beat the storm.” As I’m walking out on the beach I see lightening way off in the distance and over the ocean. It’s time to get started.  Anson and his younger brother came out of the condo as I’m working a perpendicular grid line to the surf line. We verified the search boarder lines on the condo and I continued the grid search, high tide line to about thigh deep in the ocean. After about an hour and almost at the end of the south end of the boarder, I got a great signal with a VDI of 15. With Sterling Silver I expected a higher VDI number, but at this point I’ll take any signal I could get. I dug a big scoop of sand, checked the hole which was clear, and spread the sand out on the beach. It was pitch black out there by now, so I turned on my headlamp. I started spreading out the sand with my hand, hoping to feel the target. All of a sudden I saw a section of Anson’s necklace appear out of the sand. Boom! I gently pulled the necklace out of the sand. I was able to get a half descent picture of it and sent it to Anson with a text saying “This it????” He immediately responded “yes that’s it, Oh my gosh.” The next thing I knew Anson and his brother came running up to me from down the beach. This is when I got the rest of the necklace story. Anson told me he had received the necklace from his father roughly 10 years ago and he’s been wearing it ever since. He then told me his dad had passed away one year ago. So the importance of this necklace was much more than priceless to him. I was truly honored to be able to help get this necklace back where it belonged. Another thing that touched me deeply is his last text to me – “And I wanna just say god bless you. You have made my life better.”

Anson – thank you young man!

Jim

   

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