Good NewsArizona woman finds her mother’s wedding ring in ashes of home lost in wildfire
In the ashes of her destroyed home, an Arizona woman found priceless treasure: her mother's wedding ring.
Carole Ryan was vacationing in Prague this summer when she lost her home and 13 pets in the Yarnell Hill wildfire that spread through her Glen Isla, Arizona, neighbourhood.
When she returned to Arizona, the Red Cross gave her a sifter, built by Boy Scouts, to help her search through her home's ashes.
According to CBS5, Ryan found the one item she cared about the most, buried 6 inches in debris: her mother's wedding ring.
"I screamed. I just screamed. I just could not imagine. I mean, nothing else mattered once I found that ring," she said.
"When I thought I had lost absolutely everything, I found my mom's wedding ring in the ashes of my home."
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Ryan had treasured the ring since she lost her mother to cancer in 1962. Ryan was only 15 at the time.
The firebox that held the ring had been destroyed — and the coin collection inside it had melted — but somehow the ring survived.
"That discovery meant the world to me. I found it by sifting through the ashes, using a sifter given to me by the Red Cross. What a gift they gave me — at a time I needed hope so desperately," she told CBS5.
News of the ring's discovery gave hope to others, too.
"Finding the ring meant so much to me, but what means almost as much is the joy this news has given other people. The Red Cross workers and so many people saddened by the wildfire and the deaths have really enjoyed hearing this story. It has made so many smile, especially me," she added.
