Alberta Man Finds Wedding Ring in Mexico, Tracks Down Owner Half-Way Across the World
Keith Bratt of Lethbridge, Alta., was swimming with sea turtles in the waters of Akumal Bay, Mexico, when he spotted a gold band on the ocean floor. He was celebrating his 30th wedding anniversary with his wife, and finding the ring would start him on a journey to help two newlyweds.
Bratt notified the guide at the turtle sanctuary when he spotted the ring, and the guide dived down to get it. The band had the date of April 24, 2023 inscribed on the inside, along with the name Licia.
Seeing it was the wedding band of someone recently married, he took to social media to see if his post could spread far enough to find the owner. “Huge long shot, but I want to try and find the owner,” he said in a Facebook post that has been shared more than 200,000 times.
Bratt found the ring on May 1, and in less than two weeks his post reached the attention of the owner, Gaetano Rossi of Italy. Rossi’s wife, Licia Pietroluongo, saw the post and responded. Rossi had lost the ring snorkeling in the the turtle sanctuary earlier on the same day Bratt found it.
“I just got off the phone with the owner,” Bratt wrote in a Facebook update. “She has the same ring, but with her husbands name. She says it will bring her a long happy marriage, because I found it on my 30th wedding anniversary.”
Commenters on the post shared stories of lost rings, some also found in surprising ways. One commenter said his mother lost her ring and it was returned to her 30 years later, having been discovered in the strawberry patch of their old home.
Another commenter’s husband lost his wedding ring in the same place as Rossi, in Akumal Bay. “Suncream, loose ring and water just helped it slip away,” she said. That was in 2016, and she and her husband didn’t get it back, but she was happy to see Rossi’s story with a happier ending. “So pleased for the couple who found it and who will get it back.”
Bratt said he was putting the ring in the mail on May 15, so it’s on its way back home.
