Wisconsin man reunited with wedding ring after 14 years

MERCER, Wisc. (NBC, KYMA/KECY) - For most couples, a wedding ring is a lasting symbol of love and commitment. But for one couple, that symbol went missing for over a decade.

Mike and Tracy Kroening have a home on the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage. In 2009, they met their neighbors and their kids on Swimmers Island.

Everyone was having fun swimming and playing and Kroening was tossing one of the kids into the water when something unimaginable happened.

"As I threw him, he grabbed my hand and pulled my platinum wedding band off of my hand, and it was lost. So, we immediately quarantined the area, so to speak, went and got diving masks and we looked for the wedding band for many, many hours and days," Kroening detailed.

Purchasing a replacement

The Kroenings figured the ring was gone for good and Tracy even purchased a replacement.

They say they've been back to the island thousands of times over the past 14 years and said they never really thought about the ring until Kroening saw a Facebook post.

"I saw a picture of a ring...it looked just like my ring, and again, 14 years later it was stained with the color of the water, but I reached out to Bill Stewart," Kroening shared.

"What just blew me away...was within a half an hour, I had a message from Mike. First of all, I was surprised we found anybody, and second of all, I was surprised it came so quickly," said Bill Stewart of the Turtle-Flambeau Flowage and Trude Lake Association.

Reunited

Stewart had to make sure it was the right owner so he asked what was inscribed on the band.

"It's 'You love.' It's our wedding song. So, I had in engraved with those words and the date of our wedding," Tracy explained.

"So, he told me what was on the inside of the ring, except that the date was not right. And I went back to him and I said, 'Could there be another date?' And he said, 'Yes, we were married twice, once in the United States and once in Canada.' 'What's the other date,' I said. He gave me the other date, and it was correct," Stewart further explaned.

Kroening went to Stewart's house that night and was reunited with his ring 14 years after it had been lost.

"Like a needle in a haystack or winning the lottery, or something along those lines, but I haven't won the lottery yet," Kroening joked.