'I was speechless': Cape Breton woman finds lost wedding ring at local dump

A Cape Breton woman’s search for her wedding ring and other rings began at home, but ended at the Cape Breton Regional Municipality Solid Waste transfer facility.

“I had put my rings in a solution to wash them,” said Alexandra Stokal. “I hate to admit it but it was partly my fault too, because I put them in paper towel to dry them and put them on a shelf.”

Not knowing what was in the paper towel, her husband threw them out.

By the time they realized what had happened, the rings were buried somewhere in a mountain of garbage.

“The odds are very slim that we could recover something that small, but we said we'd give it a shot for her,” said J.B. O’Brien, CBRM Foreman.

O'Brien, along with five other CBRM employees, began searching for the precious pieces of silver and gold.

“It was pretty well the whole left side of the Pier, so you're looking at a thousand bags or more,” said O’Brien.

While searching, Stokal says she was praying too.

“My grandmother always said if you lost something, pray to St. Anthony, so I was like, “Come on St. Anthony, I’ve never called in a favour before,” she said.

There were five rings in total, including wedding rings and sentimental pieces.

“It was a combination of wedding rings,” she said. “When my father died, my mother bought us all a ring to commemorate that, a ring from my grandmother, so it was a big mix of things that meant a lot to me.”

After more than two hours of searching, Stokal thought they were gone forever.

“About halfway through, you're digging through the most random things. I really didn't think we would find them, no,” she said.

But it didn’t take long for Stokal’s worries to turn to happiness.

“Chris Ward was the guy that found the rings on the floor for us. As soon as we found them, the lady started crying and was all happy and didn't know what to do,” said O’Brien.

“I just gave him the biggest hug and I was so appreciative, and not only to him, but to the entire team of people that stayed on their Friday to help me find the rings,” said Stokal. “I'm very seldom at a loss for words, but when we found the rings, I was speechless.”