By “Oh, no! My wedding ring!” Kelsey Battease tearfully blurted out after realizing her ring had slipped off her finger and fallen into the Hampton Beach ocean. That day, Kelsey had decided to take her mother-in-law and her three little boys—Nathan, Nolan and Jayce—for a quick trip to the beach.
Two-year-old Nathan had been holding her hand as they walked along the roaring waves. Needing to switch hands for a better grip, Kelsey pulled her left hand free to give him her right hand, but in that instant, her wedding ring flew off and was swallowed by the surf.
After searching for hours, Kelsey had the sinking feeling she’d never find it. The symbol of love between my husband and me for these past six years is now gone forever! her broken heart cried. As a last-ditch effort, Kelsey posted about her lost ring on Facebook and also on the Hampton Beach Residents & Friends group.
It’s a long shot if ever there was one, but if anyone finds this ring along the shore of Hampton Beach across from the mini golf…I’m so heartbroken, she wrote. To Kelsey’s surprise, she instantly received dozens of responses from people who said they’d let her know if they saw it and others offering prayers and well-wishes.
The next morning, when she woke up to check for more messages, she saw a note from a man named Arthur Fleming. I’m coming up around 7 am tomorrow. Do you know what time the ring was lost? I can then judge how deep in the water I need to be to find it, he wrote.
Kelsey filled him in, not expecting a happy ending. But the next day, she got a call from her excited mother. “Oh, my God!” she exclaimed. “Someone found your ring. Go on Facebook and message him right away!”
Kelsey jumped on Facebook and Arthur had posted a picture of the ring, which he found with his metal detector. The 64-year-old had searched the water for 5 hours and was ready to try again the next day when, still standing in the knee-high waves, the high shrill of his detector went off. His heartbeat escalated when he dug down and found just the treasure he was looking for.
He messaged Kelsey with his phone number, and it didn’t take long for her to call him. Since she lived in Upstate New York and couldn’t make the trip back due to the kids’ sporting events, Arthur knew what he had to do.
Without hesitation, Arthur offered a safe meeting place at a gas station in Cambridge, New York, where they would meet at 5:30 that afternoon.
After a more than 125-mile drive from his home in Pepperell, Massachusetts, Arthur pulled up, and before long, so did Kelsey and two of her sons. They shared an enthusiastic greeting before he gave her the ring, her heart filling with gratitude.
“For a stranger to drive an hour from his house to look for my ring, then drive 6 hours round trip to deliver it back to me…who does that?” Kelsey says in awe before realizing her answer. “Angels. Angels do that.”
