In 2010, Cobargo couple Paul and Lynette Schaefer realised they had lost Mr Schaefer’s wedding ring at Horseshoe Bay.

“It was just an average day at the beach for us, my husband always took his ring off when he went swimming,” Mrs Schaefer said. 

“So it actually took a while for us to realise it was lost, it wasn’t until we retraced our steps that we figured it must have been left on the beach.”

For years, Mrs Shaefer kept one eye out for the ring every time she returned to the beach, with no success.

“After a while we sort of gave up on it and stopped searching, we figured it was swept away by the tide or buried somewhere beneath the sand,” she said.

“So it never crossed our minds that someone may have picked it up.”

On the evening of Wednesday, January 17, Ms Sheafer was scrolling through Facebook when a post from Jade Hutchison on the Cobargo/Bermagui Notice Board Facebook page popped up with a photo of her husband’s ring. 

Jade’s post read: “Found on this beach while my family and I were on holidays in 2010, I am from Sydney and have been trying to find the owner or a way of contacting the owner which has been hard considering I’m not from the area! I would absolutely love to return it to its original owner as I have had it for so many years! Please share around!”

Now 17, Jade was only nine years old when she found Mr Schaefer’s ring in the sand. She took it home to Sydney after her and her mother tried to turn it into the police station, but it was closed. 

It only took two hours for Mrs Shaefer and Jade to confirm the ownership of the ring and organise a time to meet. She described it as a “surreal experience.”

“I thought it was someone else’s ring when I first saw it, because it had been so long,” Mrs Schaefer said. 

“But then I saw our anniversary date engraved in the ring and my heart started racing.” 

Mrs Shaefer said it was especially significant for her and her husband as they are celebrating their 25^th wedding anniversary later this year. 

“It was actually really emotional for us, we’d missed it for so long and obviously its a really special symbol of our marriage,” she said. 

“We actually got a quote for a replacement ring not that long ago, but it was out of our budget.” 

The Shaefers travelled up to Sydney on Sunday and met Jade to pick up the wedding ring. 

“When you lose something you always hope someone out there has found it,” Mrs Shaefer said. 

“We’re really lucky someone like Jade found the ring and she realised that what she had was something really special.” 

Bega District News