Lost and Found

Lost and Found

Eryn Dion
News Staff Writer

TEMPLETON — “Found Randy’s wedding ring in Colliers in Gardner. He married Kim back about 14 years ago, do you know them?”

When that post appeared on Tanguay Jewelers’ Facebook page Saturday, owner Brian Tanguay had no way of knowing the part he would play in an almost miraculous series of events that would reunite a Templeton widow and her husband’s wedding ring.

Almost exactly one year ago, on April 6, Kimberly Mustakangas’ husband Randy, an engineer in the Navy, died unexpectedly of a heart attack. The pair had grown up together, dating in high school before parting ways. Both married and had children with different people but reunited 17 years ago, before getting married in 2001 on the Hawaiian island of Maui.


“The rest is history,” said Ms. Mustakangas. On October 9, their wedding anniversary,

Ms. Mustakangas and a few friends went kayaking at Camp Collier in Gardner. Both Ms. Mustakangas and her husband enjoyed the sport and they would frequently go kayaking together on that river. Ms. Mustakangas had fashioned a memorial wreath in memory of her husband, but when she went to toss the wreath into the water, disaster struck.

“I threw the memorial wreath into the water,” she explained.  “Unbeknownst to me, because of the cold my finger had shrunk and the ring fell off my finger.”

Ms. Mustakangas discovered the mishap when she returned home later that day, but it was too late. Family and friends, knowing the emotional value of the ring, searched, to no avail, both the camp ground and Ms. Mustakangas’ yard, going so far as to bring in metal detectors.

“I had resigned myself to the fact that I would never see that ring again,” she said.

Ms. Mustakangas’ decision to keep her husband’s ring was a last minute one, made the day he was to be buried in the Veterans’ Memorial Cemetery in Winchendon.

“Initially I was going to have him buried with the ring,” she said. “But at the last possible moment I asked the funeral director to get me the ring. I needed something tangible from him.”

Six months later, a man named Gregory from Gardner was kayaking at Colliers. After putting his boat in at the exact same spot Ms. Mustakangas had in October, he looked down and made a miraculous discovery.

“He looked down into the water and saw the ring sitting on top of the sand,” said Ms. Mustakangas.

Gregory took the ring to Tanguay Jewelers, where Mr. Tanguay is used to handling lost jewelry. Mr. Tanguay knew immediately the ring was gold, and examined an engraving on the inside of the band, which read “Kim and Randy Oct. 9 2000 Maui”. Recognizing the emotional value of the item, Mr. Tanguay advised Gregory to bring the ring down next door to the Gardner Police Station and speak with an officer about locating its owner. Gregory, eager to return the ring, agreed and Mr. Tanguay took to Facebook to get the word out.

“It literally took a minute,” Mr. Tanguay explained. Ms. Mustakangas agreed, surprised at how quickly she was flooded with calls about the ring.

“A bunch of my friends saw it and blew up Facebook,” she said. “Within an hour I was at the police station getting my ring back.”

Mr. Tanguay said he’s returned lots of lost jewelry over the years, mostly class rings, but this case will stick out in his mind for a long time.

“It does happen a lot but this time was special,” he commented. “It was extra nice to get that one back.”

Ms. Mustakangas was reunited with her husband’s ring on April 19, just three days after the anniversary of his death. She said she is eternally grateful to both Mr. Tanguay and Gregory for getting her ring back, and hopes to someday meet with Gregory to thank him in person. Recognizing the almost improbable series of events, Ms. Mustakangas believes the ring was a sign that her husband is still close to her.

“I believe Randy brought the ring back to me,” she said. “He’s my angel and he let me know he’s looking over me.”

After the ordeal, Ms. Mustakangas plans to have the ring shaped into a heart and placed on a necklace. Gregory could not be reached for comment.