Thunder Bay man’s lost ring found — after 2,000 km trek to Maine

Debra Young, right, gave Paul Marshall, left, a ring for his 40th birthday. He was devastated when he lost it at work. Little did he know it would be on its way back to him six months later.

A 2,000-km journey and some “truthful and honest people” have allowed a Thunder Bay man to track down a treasured ring he received from his girlfriend and thought he had lost forever.

The ring was given to Paul Marshall by his then-girlfriend and current fiancée Debra Young for his 40th birthday — and was the first ring he had ever been given by anyone.

Marshall said he lost the ring six months ago while working at one of the machines at GRK Fasteners, a manufacturer of specialty screws in Thunder Bay. It was only later in the day he noticed the ring was missing from his finger.

Marshall said that when he told Young he had lost the ring, she said not to worry about it.

“She kept telling me that [she] didn’t spend thousands of dollars on it,” Marshall said.

But Marshall was disappointed. “I don’t care [if] you spent $5. It means a lot.”

He spent the next day looking through boxes of screws that he had packaged, without any luck.

“I could not find it, and I pretty much wrote it off at that point,” he recalled. “[I thought] the chance of me ever getting this back will be next to zero.”

Six months later…

But what Marshall didn’t count on were the keen eyes of two construction workers in York, Maine.

That’s where the ring turned up, having travelled more than 2,000 km in a box of screws.

‘I’m just amazed that people went to that much trouble to find me.’– Paul Marshall

“The two guys were working in an attic, and the one guy saw the ring in the package. So did the other guy,” Marshall

said.

The two construction workers and their boss set out to solve the mystery of the ring’s owner.

“The boss went to the local lumberyard, where they buy their screws,” Marshall said. “He got in contact with our rep down in the area, and she asked for the initials that are on the package and got in contact with us. That’s how our boss ended up talking to the guys.”

The ring is now in the mail, headed back to its rightful — and grateful — owner.

“That’s a lot of people that have got to be honest and truthful along the way, and I’m just amazed that people went to that much trouble to find me,” Marshall said.

To hear the entire interview, click here, or on the Listen button to the left of this story.

Marshall and Young plan to get married in the summer of 2015.

CBC News Posted: Apr 29,

2014 2:37 PM ET

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