Wedding Ring Lost At Tulsa State Fair Returned To Owner After Two-Years

A wedding ring that was lost for two years has finally been returned to its owner.

It had fallen on the ground at the 2019 Tulsa State Fair.

“I remember it was one of the first cold days of the year," said Keri Patton, the ring's owner.

"I remember it fitting just a little loosely but not enough to be a concern."

Keri Patton and her husband had the ring custom made with a special engraving - a phrase special to them, 'Only friend.' Two years ago, the ring slipped off her finger. She realized it was gone when she looked at her hand on the drive home from the fair.

"Panic set in," she said.

She realized it on the ride home - and immediately called Cynthia Coetzee with guest services at the fair who looked everywhere - but someone else ended up finding it.

"And I just happen to look down ... And I saw the ring," said Keli Lemaster, the woman who found the ring.

“So I picked it up and I was like, ‘This can’t be real, it’s a huge ring, it’s beautiful,’ so I started thinking, well if it is, there’s probably someone freaking out nearby, so I just started looking."

For the past two years - she's been trying to find its owner. She called the fair administration and even went to a jewelry shop to try to find a serial number. 

"Last night when I was here I thought, ‘Oh I’ll just stop by and see if they know anything at guest services," Lemaster said.

As it turns out the person working the guest services tent she went to was one of the few people who knew about the ring, Cynthia Coetzee.

"She just happened to come to me," Coetzee said. “And I was like, ‘You’ve got to be kidding me, right?’ And I said to her I know exactly whose ring that is!”

She and the fair administration then searched through old files and dug up the lost and found form Patton filled out two years prior and called Patton.

“She said I think that we may have found your ring that you lost in 2019. I was speechless. I didn’t know, I said are you serious? Is this a joke?" Patton said.

Patton was overjoyed to finally be united with the ring again. She says it's a miracle that after all this time it was finally returned.

“What better outcome could you ask for?” she said.