The day after Thanksgiving, Tobias Borawski lost his wedding ring on a visit to Clearwater Beach.
He and his wife, Imke Borawski, were devastated and thought they'd never see the ring again.
But, thanks to the Clearwater Police Department's connections with a local group of metal detector enthusiasts, the Borawskis got the ring back just six days later.
The department said a service technician helped connect the couple with a local group that works to reunite people who lost jewelry in the area.
“We thought the ring would never be found,” Imke Borawski said. “We were so sad, we did not know what to do.”
The Suncoast Research and Recovery Club is a member of the international group called The Ring Finders. Locally, there are about 100 people who volunteer to help people find lost possessions. The department said the group has helped return more than 600 items to owners in the last nine years.
“If it’s there, we are going to find it,” said Howard Metts, president of the local club.
Metts and two other club members, Ed Osmar and Bill Gallant, met Imke Borawski on the stretch of beach where the ring went missing. However, the couple wasn't sure if it was lost in the water or on the sand.
Imke Borawski then showed the group exactly where she and her family spent the day at the beach, and the trio "methodically and painstakingly searched" the sand and water for it. One of them even searched all the way back to the family's parking spot.
After about 45 minutes, Gallant found the ring in the sand about 80 feet from the Gulf.
“I was overwhelmed. I started to cry and I could not find the words for it,” Imke Borawski said. “It’s priceless. The emotional value of this ring is priceless.”
“If you saw the expression on her face, it was priceless,” Metts said.
The Borawskis said they will be forever indebted to the three men for finding the ring, which has been with them the last 17 years of marriage.
“These three people shared their time with us and they didn’t even know us. It was so amazing,” Imke Borawski said. “It was our perfect Christmas story. I think we will smile about this for the rest of our lives.”
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