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Missing ring reunited with couple vacationing in the Okanagan

Calgary couple lost a wedding ring on a South Okanagan beach
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Angi Gerrie (left) and her husband who presented the ring she thought would never be recovered after losing it on Skaha Beach on Sunday. Thanks to a member of the Okanagan Treasure Hunters Club it was found the next day. Photo courtesy of Dianne McKeown

A sucker for a happy ending, Dianne McKeown was quick to jump into action to help a vacationing Calgary couple that lost a wedding ring on a Penticton beach on Sunday.

“I do really love happy ending stories and who wouldn’t want to help someone who came to our wonderful city only to have their vacation disrupted after losing a wedding ring?” said McKeown.

After seeing a Facebook plea on the Okanagan Treasure Hunters Club page, which McKeown is a member of, she reached out to the couple. Angi Gerrie, her husband and kids had been hanging out at Skaha Beach when she asked her husband to hold her ring for while she was putting on sunscreen. It was in the process of handing it back to her that the football flew in knocking it right out of his hand.

Their initial search was unsuccessful, so the couple purchased a cheap metal detector. It only resulted in more tears as they came up with nothing. A friend then pointed Gerrie to the treasure hunters club’s Facebook page where she posted a desperate plea for help around 9 p.m. on Sunday.

McKeown saw it and met Gerrie’s husband early on Monday morning before the beach got busy again.

“He had an idea of the area and had already spent quite a bit of time searching on the sand so I decided to go right into the water. I turned up a few bottle caps and was getting close to completing the search grid when I got another hit,” said McKeown.

Sitting in about eight inches of water just off the shoreline, there was the ring.

“I told him I just have to see the reaction of his wife when he brought that home. So off I went and followed him to the house they were staying at with my camera in hand,” said McKeown. “She just went into tears. She just said ‘you found it, oh my god.’ She thanked me profusely. It was a good way to start the day.”

McKeown will now have her own great story to share with other treasure hunters from all over the Okanagan Valley when they regularly meet on the third Tuesday of the month at the Penticton Museum and Archives at 7 p.m. As well, when the group holds their 10th anniversary inviting people from all over B.C. and Washington State to an event on Sept. 7 and 8 at Sudbury Beach.

“Everyone has a story. We have a lot of members in the club that have found and returned a lot of rings, jewelry and we never really put it out there to get publicized. I thought why not put this great story out there, everyone likes to hear a heart-warming, fuzzy news story,” said McKeown. who added the club has also donated $32,500 so far to the South Okanagan Similkameen Medical Foundation hospital campaign through various events and fundraisers.


Kristi Patton | Editor
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