Against all odds, a Colwood woman has been “miraculously” reunited with her wedding ring after losing it in Lookout Lake.
For over two weeks, Deborah Parker’s gold ring lay lost among the stones and the weeds at the bottom of the “murky” lake, after it unknowingly slipped off her finger during a quick dip to escape the hot weather.
Desperate to find the ring, which originally belonged to her mother, Parker and her family made several attempts to recover it. Her 13-year-old granddaughter even threw on a pair of swimming goggles and searched the lake for nearly an hour, but to no avail.
“We had no luck at all,” said Parker, a grandmother of 10. “My husband said there was no way we would find it, it was like looking for a needle in a haystack.”
In a last ditch attempt, Parker posted a plea for help on the Colwood Community Facebook page, and coming to her rescue was View Royal resident Craig Shotton, a “professional hobbying” detectorist.
Shotton offered to travel to Lookout Lake that same morning to search for the ring with his metal detector.
“I really was shocked … that some stranger would be kind enough to spend part of their Sunday and go out to look for it,” said Parker.
An experienced detectorist of five years, this isn’t the first time Shotton has come to the aid of a distressed local. He’s had previous success in two other searches and also lists a gold American coin from the 1880s, worth an estimated $2,000, and a Spanish coin from 1827 among his personal discoveries.
So before arriving at the lake, Shotton said that he felt 80 per cent confident that he could find the ring. But when he saw the “cloudy” lake and realized that he would be wading in water up to four-feet deep, the chances of a find dropped to 40 per cent.
Despite the odds stacked against him, Shotton and his trusty metal detector persisted with the search, ignoring false alarms such as a lead fishing weight and a drinks can ring-pull.
However, as time crept on, he became less optimistic and decided to call it a day, but then Shotton struck gold, quite literally.
“It took me maybe three or four tries to scoop it out of the water, but when I raised the scoop out of the water, there was an absolutely huge yellow gold band sitting on top of the gravel,” said Shotton. “I couldn’t believe I found it. I handed it to Deborah’s daughter, Annalise, who was there helping me and she was in tears almost immediately.”
Parker was reunited with the ring later that day.
“To me, it was a miracle,” said Parker. “I was really shocked … I had a little cry.”
About his good deed, Shotton said it felt “amazing” to help. “It’s hard to describe the joy of bringing happiness to somebody like that,” said Shotton.
A couple of days later the pair met so Parker could properly thank Shotton.
“He was wonderful, and his wife Michele was wonderful too, and I gave them a hug,” said Parker. “I've told him that if he ever needs anything to call me. And my husband’s a retired electrical contractor, so he’s offered his help if ever Craig needs any electrical things fixed.”
The feel-good story has captured the hearts of the community who have praised Shotton’s kindness.
“Not all heroes wear capes, is one of the comments that I saw on Facebook,” said Parker.
