It’s much more than a wedding band – it’s a lifetime of memories that now could be lost forever.
Shirlee Matkin’s 94-year-old mother Joan, who has been volunteering at the Delta Hospital Auxiliary Thrift Store in Ladner Village for at least 50 years, lost her wedding band while working at the store on Tuesday, Dec. 11.
“They scoured the store and couldn’t find it,” said Matkin. “I suspect it might have come off when she was sorting some items. It’s a very thin, gold wedding band.”
Shirlee said her parents were married for 64 years, and the band has great sentimental value to the family. She took to social media earlier this week spreading the message about the lost treasure.
“We lost dad in 2009. When my parents were in war my dad was stationed in England and met my mother at a dance,” Shirlee recalled. “A couple of weeks after that first meeting, dad’s commanding officer called him in and said he was going home. Dad said he couldn’t because he thought he may have met the ‘one’ – my mom. His commanding officer said he would hold onto the transfer papers for a month and told my dad to ‘figure it out.’”
Shirlee said her dad did in fact ‘figure it out’ and wanted to propose, but because you could only get 10 carat gold and that wasn’t good enough, he rented a vehicle and searched the English countryside looking for something that would have 18 carats or better.
“He found a jeweler who made that ring. That ring has not left her finger in 73 years,” said Shirlee. “We are so sad. I just hope someone finds it and we can get it back.”
