Westboro man finds father's wedding ring, lost underground for 40 years

Nearly four decades ago, Peter Quevillon's father Andy lost his gold wedding band somewhere on the grounds of hisWestboro home in Ottawa.

Chances are it won't be lost again.

Quevillonrecovered his late father's ring earlierthis weekthanks to a high-end metal detector he bought in late November bringing an end tothe ring's remarkable, circular journey from a 1970s garden in Australia to a 21st century garden in Ottawa.

The family had always believed the gold wedding band had disappeared somewhere in the home's basement.

But when hismetal detector only turned up sewer and waterpipes, Quevillon turned his attention to a promising patch of soil in the family's garden a patch that looked like it had been gardened heavily in the past.

"This whole area here was devoid of any grass,just soil. So I thought, it looked fairly used, somebody's been standing here a lot," said Quevillon.

Quevillon waved his metal detector over the patch of soil, and the detector found something about six inches below the surface.

So he grabbed his shovel,dug into the soil,and found nothing.

Instead of giving up, Quevillon waved the metal detector over the soil again.The detector kept beeping, soQuevillon dug down a second time.

"The very last bit of soil I went through, I found something round," said Quevillon. "And I thought, it can't be."

'I was shocked'

Quevillon rubbed the mud off and, sure enough,itwas his father's gold wedding band, lost under the soil since the1970s.

"I was shocked. I thought I'd find nails and garbage," said Quevillon.

"I put everything down, I sprinted into the house up these stairs, my heart just racing, and I showed it to my mom. And she goes, 'Oh my God, that is dad's ring."

Joan Quevillonsaid she was overwhelmed with emotion when her son came rushing into the house, ring in hand.

"I just cried with happiness. I knew it was the ring. I knew," she said.

"I just couldn't sleep last night, Iwas so happy. It just means so much."

What makes the garden discovery even more remarkable is the ring's origins.According to Joan Quevillon, the wedding bandwas initially givento her husband by her father, who'd found it in Australia while digging in his garden.

Now that ring, cleaned once again of years of mud and soil, is firmly ensconced on her finger.

"It fits perfect," said Joan. "It was made for me."