So Many People Have Lost (& Found) Their Wedding Rings

Photo: Getty Images

In 1997, a logger found a gold and diamond wedding band. Just now, he was able to return it to its family in Washington state, the same family that lost the ring in a plane crash 55 years ago.

Joyce Wharton’s parents were killed when a plane traveling from Portland to Seattle went down in the woods in 1959. The wreckage site remained a mystery for many years and then, when it was found; only a wallet and a few buttons were discovered.

Twenty-four years after the crash, Nick Buchanan found the irreplaceable heirloom. He held onto the ring for safekeeping until, with some help from his nephew and Ancestry.com, was able to track down the ring’s rightful owner.

Joyce Wharton wearing her mother’s wedding ring. Photo: WABCTV

Related: Why Would Someone Plan a Secret Wedding?

"Just in your heart you’d like to have your mother’s wedding ring," 78-year-old Wharton told ABC News affiliate WABC-TV. “Something so special to your mom and dad. After all those years you don’t think it’s ever going to be possible.”

While this reunion reads like a miracle, people losing—and then finding—their wedding rings happens all the time. Just this week it was reported that a scuba diver, Daniel Roark, found a wedding ring off Playa del Carmen, Mexico and was able to return it to its owner. After his Facebook post was shared more than 100,000 times—and 50 people falsely claimed ownership—he was able to give the band back to Martin Castillo who had lost it on his honeymoon in February 2013.

A viral video from October showed a man re-proposing to his wife of 38 years with the ring that she had lost 15 years previously. In April, Greg Lindsay, who misplaced his ring when playing football on the beach in California, was reconnected with his ring after a stranger spotted it two years later. The inscription, “My Love, My Life, My Lobster,” led Jenn Birchim to believe it was a prized possession and she took to social media to track the owner down.

Related: The Do’s and Don’ts of Holiday Proposals

Not surprisingly, social media plays a huge role in making these kinds of reuninons possible. David Brenner’s band went missing when he was skiing at Vail in Colorado five years ago. One of the mountain’s maintenance workers found it under a ski lift and posted a photo that was viewed by more than a million people within a few days—including Brenner. Maurizio Martinoli, 36, flew into New York City from Rome to run his first marathon, but the exciting event was overshadowed by the fact that his ring went missing sometime during the 26.2 miles. After posting about his loss on the New York Road Runners Facebook page, a volunteer actually found it in the recycling in Brooklyn.

You don’t have to believe there’s extra special juju attached to a wedding ring, but you do have to hope this kind of thing keeps on happening.