Ring Found In a Northern Vermont River Tag | The Ring Finders

Engagement Ring Found In Lamoille River

  • from Barre (Vermont, United States)
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This story has such a happy ending, I had to post it, even though I didn’t find her ring.

About 3-1/2 weeks ago I got a call from a guy who’s wife had lost her engagement ring while rafting on a Northern Vermont river with friends. They hit a rough spot of water and she fell in. She knew immediately that she lost it, but the water was too fast and deep to look for it. The next day there was even more rain which made conditions worsen.

So, the following weekend was going to be our first attempt. I gathered together all my diving equipment, underwater lights, masks, snorkels, wetsuit, flippers, etc. I brought extras so anyone that wanted to, could join me. I also brought my shallow water detector and my deep water detector. Each attempt somebody accompanied me because I’ve always believed in swimming using the “buddy system” for safety. That day the water was still very deep, fast and cold. I could only search a small portion of the area and had to quit. When we left, I noticed she was crying. I felt terrible, but knew we had to wait and try again when the conditions were better.

The next week was sunny and dry all week, so we tried it again that weekend. I was able to stay in the water for a couple hours, but again had no luck. There were lots of rocks to look under and between. There also was one really deep stretch, that I thought the ring might have settled into, but I wasn’t able search that very thoroughly, as I could only stay down for about 30 seconds at a time. He said he had a friend who had scuba air tanks and could search with us on the next weekend.

Last week was another hot and dry week, so the river stayed nice and low and warmed up a lot. So, today her husband, the friend with the deep diving equipment and I met there at noon when the sun was high! We all searched for about 1-1/2 hours, when her husband shouted out “I found it”! He had been searching so hard, and without even using a wetsuit. Very tough and determined! I was so glad the ring was found, and it was cool that he found it, adding to the sentimental meaning of the ring.

After he called her with the good news, he asked if he could give me something for my travels. I told him that it would be nice if he just gave a donation to our local humane society. Central Vermont Humane Society is my favorite charity. He told me that his family has a foundation from which each year they donate several thousand dollars to various charities. He said he would pick our humane society to donate to this year. Wow!!! A double happy ending!

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