Diner finds couple’s missing wedding band, returns it in time for Christmas

LAUDERDALE BY THE SEA, Fla. (WSVN) - A missing wedding band has helped bring to life a Christmas miracle story about the power of social media.

Katy and Bob Mann were eating at one of their favorite restaurants, Aruba Beach Cafe in Lauderdale by the Sea, Florida, when Bob Mann dropped his wedding ring without even realizing it.

That is where Michelle Heiser comes in.

“And I’m walking and all of a sudden, I look down and I see a gold ring. And I say to my husband, ‘That looks like someone’s wedding band,’” Heiser said.

Heiser, who was at the restaurant with her husband, immediately knew what she had to do.

“And all I thought to myself when I saw the ring was, ‘Oh my God, what if it was my ring or his ring?’ You know? I would want someone to try and find a way to get it back to me,” she said.

She posted a photo on social media, along with a message that said: “Just found this man’s wedding ring in the street. It is inscribed. If you’re Katy and can tell me what else the ring says, message me and I will get it back to you.”

Heiser said that within hours, someone who lives in New Jersey private-messaged her, saying they thought they knew who the ring belonged to.

That person called the Manns and asked if it was theirs.

“I asked [Bob] if he had lost a ring, he said ‘No.’ And he said, ‘Oh, wait a minute, I don’t have my ring on,’” Katy Mann said. “He thought it was in the bathroom, but we couldn’t find it.”

It was theirs. So, they got in touch with Heiser and told her the rest of the inscription, which was their wedding date.

Heisler then delivered it on Christmas.

“It could’ve been run over, stepped on or stolen. Anything could’ve happened,” Katy Mann said. “So we were just really lucky.

It was a Christmas present for the couple, who have been married for 56 years.

“I think they were more enthused than we were,” Bob Mann said.

Now Heiser has plans for her husband’s wedding band.

“We also realized we better inscribe his ring, because it isn’t, and if we lost it, we’d be in trouble,” she said.

And the ring came back just in time for the Manns’ wedding anniversary.

“A happy ending, a very happy ending,” Katy Mann said.

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