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Ring Found at Gilbert Willis Park Commerce MI- Owner Located – Wedding Ring Returned

  • from Wixom (Michigan, United States)
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It was looking like spring the first week of May here in Lower Michigan so I went out to practice with a new metal detector at Gilbert Willis Park in Wixom.  It is a beautiful, large park and I often find coins there.  Like most parks it can yield a fair amount of junk.  I had invested the whole afternoon retrieving a mixture of junk and coins and was walking to my car when I had a good hit that I thought might be a quarter.  It turned out to be several items, first a penny and a dime in the hole, and then a diamond ring in the clump.

Sentimentally, this ring might just be the most valuable thing I have ever found.   It bore the design of half a heart with a diamond, it had an inscription and a date that indicated the ring owner had been married only a year and a half ago. The inscription “No Matter What” instantly fired my determination to find the owner.  I was enjoying the thought of returning the ring even before I had the hole filled.

I ran into a lot of dead ends on this one until I enlisted the help of a local realtor, Liz Stevenson, and the Neighborhood Exchange newsletter which she has published monthly for at least 20 years.  Everyone reads the free ads on the back of the newsletter.  I placed an ad in the July issue.   Sherry called me the day the newsletter was delivered to tell me about her husband Shoane’s lost ring.  I knew it was his ring when she told me of the half of a heart design that matched her ring; but I made her give me the inscription so I could be sure.

Shoane was playing baseball in the park and had removed the ring and pocketed it for safety. Sadly, he lost it when he went to the car after the game.  It was a win for the team; but losing the ring ruined the weekend.   After an exhaustive search, Shoane had just about given up hope he would ever see his ring again.   The ring lay buried in the park until the following spring.

It turns out that Shoane’s office was just down the street from the park.   I was able to drop the ring off and ring and owner were reunited.

Thank you Liz Stevenson for locating the ring owner.

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Lost Ring Found, Island Lake Recreation Area 7/1/2018

  • from Wixom (Michigan, United States)
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Angela texted me that her brother in law Brian had lost his ring  the day before at Island Lake Recreation Area.  They were swimming  in a small pond  that was a good hike from a sanctioned swimming area.  Since it is not listed as a metal detecting area on the park map, we stopped and asked the very kind lady at the admissions booth to contact the ranger for permission.  Permission obtained we drove to the south side of the park and hiked to the swimming hole.  The bottom dropped off sharply, typical of a former a gravel pit, and the danger was multiplied by thick weeds in the deeper areas.   This type of swimming hole can be dangerous; I don’t recommend this pond for swimming.  Everyone took turns with the scoop as we searched the deep water.  Fortunately, I located the ring on the sand bar about 20 to 30 feet out, after about a two hour search.

 

It was clear Brian had given up the ring as lost forever.  I slipped it to Angela while I hunted up my camera, and after telling Brian we were all going home, we surprised him with his ring.

 

https://youtu.be/4Ox8FD7UWfY

  

Happy Ending to a Beautiful Day

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Lost ring found in Spring Mill Pond at Island Lake Recreation Center, Brighton, Michigan

  • from Wixom (Michigan, United States)
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While showing a friend the spot where I recovered a ring last week, I noticed a group of about 20 young men.  They had been playing a rowdy game that looked like a cross between football and lacrosse in waist to shoulder deep water, up and down the swimming area and now they had suddenly switched to that familiar search mode, with the players all bent over looking for something lost in the water.   I gave them about fifteen minutes and when they were getting out of the water, looking discouraged, I approached the group.

After some banter back and forth I finally isolated the young man who admitted to losing his wedding ring.  I was not able to search that evening so I gave him my card and told him I would return the following morning.   It was cold and breezy the next morning; but I found the ring in knee deep water with a 3 hour search.

Usually I get a contract, or at least a phone number; but I could tell he didn’t believe I could find it, and he didn’t really want to give me any information.  It was a few days before he called, and I was beginning to wonder if he wanted it back at all.

Let’s just say that he was surprised to hear I had his ring.  He sent me a wedding picture to verify he was the owner, and I put his ring in the mail.

You can check out my search on YouTube  https://youtu.be/aEjq_QD0JmI

 

 

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Lost Ring Found in Spring Mill Pond at Island Lake Recreation Area, Brighton, MI

  • from Wixom (Michigan, United States)
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Happy ending to a memorable holiday at the lake

Chris and Christi were celebrating Father’s Day at Island Lake State Park.  The whole family was out in the water at Spring Mill Pond enjoying the sun, the water, and the record 90 plus degree heat.  It was a perfect summer day until Chris noticed his wedding band was missing.  Pictures taken just minutes earlier confirmed the ring had been lost in the lake, so the family along with other beach goers looked frantically while slowly losing hope.   One of Chris’s daughters asked her phone for help and theRingfinder web site came up with my phone number.  I was able to come immediately, it was early evening, and the lake was still crowded with swimmers.   With the light starting to fade and park closing in two hours, I knew I had to be quick.  Chris and daughter Carly marked the area boundaries and Christi I started making 50 yard passes in 3 – 4 foot deep water.  Everybody was cold, and we took turns diving with the scoop.  An hour later, after five passes across the swimming area turned up only a few coins, I got a great signal in about 4 feet of water.  Christi held the metal detector and I was able to scoop up the ring.  A happy ending and a super Father’s Day chapter added to this family’s album.

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Ring found in the yard Traverse City, Michigan

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I got a call from Juan because his wife Heather had lost her wedding ring in the yard while installing wood fencing. Talked to heather to get a primary area to start the grid search. The primary area was 10 feet wide by 50 feet long. Started the grid search and 5 minutes in got a good solid shallow signal looked down and found the ring in the grass. Heather stated she and Juan had been over the area multiple times and did not see the ring. I was glad to help out and like the short easy hunts.

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Lost gold Mason ring recovered, LaPorte, IN

  • from Granger (Indiana, United States)
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Got a call about a lost Mason’s ring at a yacht club in 10-12ft of water. The person was securing his pontoon to the dock and the ring slipped off onto the abyss. He had worn the ring for the last 40 years and he planned to hand it down to his son in the future.

Joe searched on the internet in hopes of finding someone in the area that may be able to help find his lost ring from the lake bottom.  He quickly found the Ring Finders site, and shortly after was on the phone with me, asking if I could help.

Made the arrangements, grabbed  my dive gear out of storage, did some gear checks and got on the road to LaPorte.
Things were lookin bad right from the get go, really choppy conditions up top, and then who would have thought there would have been hundreds of unfired 22 and 357 rounds scattered everywhere under this boat slip, right in the core search area.
Since I never imagined so many targets in that small area, I didn’t bring my mesh finds bag, so after stuffing my wetsuit with the rounds, I  was about to call it and arrange a future trip to try another recovery technique,  but decided to try just a little longer… Good thing, literally on my last scan with the pinpointer I found the ring.  Joe was a happy camper!

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Lost gold wedding ring found, Big Turkey lake, Lagrange, Indiana

  • from Granger (Indiana, United States)
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Last week I was contacted by Ringfinder, Greg Larabel from Michigan, in response to a craigslist ad that I had posted for SW Michigan lost/found rings/etc. After talking a bit, he asked if I could help with lost men’s wedding band in northern Indiana. I said sure thing, and was given the contact info for the party that lost his ring.

Barry, had lost his ring while working in the water, pulling out old wood pier posts at his lake house. The area was full of weeds and has a very mucky, marly bottom, a good 6 inches of muck. He had pulled out a lot of the weeds and actually took a heavy duty pump and attempted to pump out some of the muck in the area he had lost the gold ring that he has worn for 38 years now!

I was somewhat worried that with all the stepping around, pulling weeds and pumping out the muck that the ring may have been pushed down beyond the reach of my detector. Was also worried that the ring could have fallen down into the 3 ft deep holes left from when he pulled the old wood posts out of the lake bottom.

Well, I gave it a go this morning, set up my camera real quick, started out finding a few fishing sinkers, a couple ring looking pieces of cut-0ff aluminum pipe and an old beer can. After about 8 minutes, I had now covered about 85% of the search area and was thinking to myself “I need to hear something good here real soon….!”

Got a nice sounding tone, took a scoop of muck, broke it up with my fingers and gave it a good sloshing. Could hear something clunking around in the bottom of the scoop. Looked in the scoop and could see something nice and yellow in the bottom. There it was! Gave a quick thumbs up and headed to the pier to reunite the ring with it’s owner.

Thanks again Gregg,

Here is the email from Barry to Ringfinder Gregg:

Gregg,
As you may have heard through Ryan, he did find my ring. It took him less than 10-15 minutes. Unbelievable! He did a great job despite what he said were challenges with lead sinkers, a nearby metal dock, and miscellaneous metal parts from long ago. It was in the area I had already searched. I was absolutely ecstatic and couldn’t believe it. I didn’t know how to thank him. There are no words to convey my feelings. The ring had been on my finger for 38 years. When I lost it, it felt like a part of me was missing. I had trouble sleeping for two weeks.

I have not told my wife yet as I plan to take her out to a special dinner and surprise her with it.

Ryan, I cannot express my gratitude enough and I trust the compensation was just. I hope your feeling of helping people is truly rewarding.

Thank you! And thanks to TheRingFinders.com for leading me to both of you.
Barry Smith

 

Also got the hunt and find on video….

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Lost gold ring found at Warren Dunes State Park, Berrien County, Michigan

  • from Granger (Indiana, United States)
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Missy, friends and family were enjoying the nice day at the beach. When it was time to cool off in the water, she took her promise ring off and left it on her beach towel so she wouldn’t lose it in the water. Meanwhile, someone had lifted the towel to rid it of sand, sending the ring flying into the soft sand where it was quickly buried and lost.

As they were getting ready to leave, they noticed me out in the water with what they thought might be a metal detector. They asked if I could help them find the lost promise ring, missy described it in detail and I said I’d be happy to help. After a couple minutes searching, finding a few coins and bottle caps, I heard a very nice sounding target signal. I scooped up the target and there it was, the missing gold ring.  Big smiles all around!

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Ring recovered in Wixom Lake, Beaverton, MI

  • from Manistee (Michigan, United States)
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Happy young lady after engagement ring found.$6000.00 engagement ring recovered in 3 feet of water.

    Stepanie was celebrating the Memorial Weekend on Saturday at Wixom Lake in Beaverton, MI
    While anchoring their boat at Pontoon Alley, a place were everyone anchors and parties on the water, she removed her rings to hand to Travis her fiance’. While handing the rings to put in the boat her $6000.00 engagement sank to the sandy bottom in three feet of water. After several people helped look for the ring and getting a detector from Travis parents they gave up and went to the internet.
Stephanie contacted me from the Ringfinders network and asked me to make the two and a half hour journey. I told her I could make it Wed. afternoon and so I went up to see them.
Jumping in their boat we took a mile trip down the lake to Pontoon Alley. It was about the size of a football field that went from the beach to about 5 feet.
Stephanie remebers stand ing up to her waist so I concentrated on that depth. I put a stick in the water and set up a grid search and after three 50 feet swipes and 25 pull tabs and bottle caps I cam up with the jewel. Travis and I were going to bring back all the junk and mix the ring in it after telling Stephanie that we gave up the search but when I handed it to Travis  and he looked at Stephanie he smiled and she burst out in tears. After several thank you’s and as many bear hugs we jumped back into the boat and headed back.
Stepanie grilled us some hamburgers and sausage, made a hundred calls to tell everyone it’s been found and I packed up with a smile on my face and headed home.
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Love story in East Lansing, Michigan has happy ending

  • from Manistee (Michigan, United States)
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Drainage ditch at left, walking path at right, ring found in tall grass.

I recieved a call from Russ VanMaele, an Undergrad student at Michigan State, whos girlfriend lost her silver ring with a Tourquoise stone. He said the ring had a lot of sentimental value and wanted to find it for his girlfriend.

It was a stormy week and the running path and drainage ditch that runs along side it was flooding over the path. The young lovers were playing in muddy knee deep water after the storm, with wet hands her ring fell into the water. At that moment Russ had the wherewithall to turn around and note the spot where it dropped was between the ditch and the path and marked by two trees across the path.  

I met Russ at Abbot Place Apartments a couple days after his call and after showing me the area I went to work. I used my Bounty Hunter Time Ranger but wasn’t comfortable in the high Elephant grass so I got out my CZ21 which was heavier and has a 10 inch coil. After mowing down  the tall grass with my feet and hands and pushing the coil in between heavy clumps of grass I heard a faint beep and started cutting grass and digging up an inch of mud and there it was. It took about twenty minutes to find the ring but I was covered with at least 50 mosquito bites, one cut finger from a sharp piece of grass and sweat from head to toe.

I went over to Russ who was doing some paperwork on his computer for school and showed him the ring. His great big grin was my immediate reward and he said I can’t believe you found it. I said it is amazing that he thought of looking on the internet and than finding me and me driving 50 miles to the center of Michigan to a drainage ditch and finding the ring.

I drove off and saw Russ talking to his girlfriend on his cell and he was still smiling. He waved goodbye. Russ will email me a picture of his girlfriend getting her ring back and putting it on the Book of Smiles.

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