What could have been a disastrous mishap for Conestogo resident Teryl Kieswetter last weekend turned out to be an episode which renewed her faith in the good people of Elmira, after her lost wedding ring was returned to her.
Kieswetter noticed that the ring was missing as she was entering the Woolwich Memorial Centre before her child’s hockey practice.
Earlier in the day she had removed her ring to apply moisturizing lotion to her hands outside the Tim Hortons restaurant in Elmira, and is unsure about whether she put the ring back on her finger before entering the coffee shop. Perhaps it slipped off when she removed her gloves, or she forgot to replace the ring and it simply fell out of the car.
Kieswetter and a friend tore apart their van searching for the ring, and then went back to the Tim Hortons parking lot.
“We tried to retrace our steps but we couldn’t find anything.”
The distressed mother of two began her search by sending an e-mail out to the parents of children on her daughter’s soccer team. She went back to the Tim Hortons again and gave them her name and phone number, and asked them to call her if anyone returned the ring to them. Finally, she decided to put up posters around town with a picture of the ring.
“I hoped somebody would find it, but honestly I didn’t expect that anybody would. Or if someone did find it, I really didn’t know if I would get it returned to me.”
Kieswetter, who has been married 17 years, noted that on top of her grief about having to deal with the insurance companies and reporting the loss, the ring was also extremely sentimental to her as she and her husband found it when they were on a vacation together in Puerto Rico several years ago.
“It’s very unique, and special to me. I would never have been able to replace that.”
But before Kieswetter even had time to think about a replacement, she noticed a missed call on her cell phone – a call from Gerry McMillan, a Good Samaritan who was in the right place at the right time.
“The people of Elmira – my goodness, word gets around fast. I just sent out an e-mail, and the communication went from one end of town to the other within a few hours.”
The word had gotten around to the right person, and the ring was in good hands. McMillan, an Elmira resident, found the ring in the Tim Hortons parking lot on Saturday morning and held onto it.
“I just noticed the ring when I got out of the car, and I thought ‘Holy! This is beautiful. Somebody will surely be looking for this.” McMillan noted.
Not wanting to run an ad in the paper, or put up signs about the ring she had found, for fear of imposters calling with claims to have lost it, McMillan simply held onto it and waited. It wasn’t until two of her family members saw Kieswetter’s poster hanging in a store, and told McMillan that the ring in the picture was similar to the one she had found, that she knew she had found its rightful owner.
“It was a real treat when I got the call saying that someone had found it and that they wanted to return it to me,” said Kieswetter. “I am so grateful to Gerry for her honesty. I just know now that there are good people out there.”
