After nearly two decades of being lost, a wedding ring has been found and returned to its rightful owners.
On Monday, a group of treasure hunters from Canada’s Calgary Metal Detecting Club were tracking something that led one member named Paul into a lake.
After searching deep within the lake, Paul emerged with a wedding band that had become buried at the bottom, engraved with the names “Karl” and “Palma”.
Paul immediately took the ring to a local business, so they could help him track down the owners of the valuable item.
An employee of the business, named Karin, contacted a popular Calgary blog called Crackmacs, which posted a photo of the ring on social media to find who it belonged to.
Crackmacs wrote: “She simply asked that if whoever owns the ring could give her the date, she’ll return it, easy peasy. A long shot but who knows, right?”
Thanks to the post going viral, the couple was identified within an hour.
However, the discovery came through a 2012 obituary announcing Palma’s death, “predeceased by her husband Karl”.
The clue helped Karin track down the couple’s son and granddaughter online, and she was able to arrange with them a time to return the family’s lost ring.
Karin later learned that the family had been at the beach having a picnic 20 years ago when Karl’s ring fell off in the water.
He and his sons searched the water and nearby area for hours, with sadly no luck.
The loss of his wedding band continued to devastate Karl, particularly after he suffered from a stroke, which kept bringing back memories of losing the ring.
Karl’s son revealed that his heartbreak over losing his wedding ring continued to resurface until he died at the age of 67.
When Karin returned the ring to Karl’s family 20 years after it first went missing, his loved ones placed it on Karl’s gravestone.
The reunion between the family and the ring also coincided with the sixth anniversary of Palma’s passing, making the visit even more poignant with emotion.
Karin and Paul met the family at the cemetery for the special reunion, thankful that the wedding band had finally made it home.
Have you or someone you know ever lost your wedding ring? Let us know in the comments below.
Article created in partnership with Over60