When Pat Hanson first noticed her mother’s 1920 wedding ring fit loosely on her finger, she had no idea it would take prayers to a patron saint and a team of eight Rogue Valley Sewer Services technicians to finally get it re-sized.
Hanson was sitting Nov. 9 at Shepherd of the Valley Catholic Church in Central Point, Ore., when the thought crossed her mind.
“I’ve lost about 10 pounds,” Hanson said, attributing her weight loss to a fall about three months ago. “When I was sitting in church I was noticing it was fitting a little loose on me.”
It was after the worship service when Hanson used the church restroom that the unthinkable happened to the ring she’d cherished and worn daily since her mother’s passing in 1989.
“I just panicked. I wanted to dive down that toilet right after it,” Hanson said. “I don’t even take it off at night.”
There was little she could do on a Sunday but pray. The next morning, she and a friend rushed to Rogue Valley Sewer Services for help.
Four RVSS workers with two trucks inspected the service line and main line. A portable closed circuit television was used for the service line, and a large box-style vehicle with tractor-style cameras inspected the main line. After a couple of hours, the workers told her they’d done all they could.
“We weren’t able to see anything really well,” RVSS operations manager Shane Macuk said.
Although the workers’ empty hands didn’t stop Hanson from bringing them See’s Candies for their efforts, the outcome was a letdown.
“We kind of felt like we got beat,” Macuk said. “After that, we secretly looked out without her knowing, because we didn’t want to get her hopes up.”
The next morning Macuk met with TV crew lead Kevan Kerby and flusher crew lead Tim Hammond. Together they decided to take the next step of plugging the main sewer line near the church so they could inspect it while it was dry. As Macuk explained, sewer lines aren’t perfectly flat, so there are places for particles and debris to settle out.
“It appeared that there might be some jewelry in that debris,” Macuk recalled from the team’s first pass.
The team vacuumed up some of the heavy spots sewer workers refer to as “belly in the pipe” and sorted out the vacuumed material in a process similar to panning for gold. RVSS worker Travis Cox spotted the ring while assisting the flusher crew.
“Our guy took a shovel, and the ring came tumbling out,” Macuk said.
Four days after the crew’s first attempt, Macuk called Hanson with the good news.
“He said, ‘Pat, we have your ring.’ And I just let out a war hoot you wouldn’t believe,” Hanson said.
She rushed to RVSS. The entire office welcomed her with a round of applause, bringing tears to her eyes.
“Shane put his arm around me and said, ‘Come on, you’re supposed to be happy,’ ” Hanson said.
The efforts and the results are anything but common, Macuk said, although RVSS recovered another ring from the sewer back in August.
“It’s like a needle in a haystack,” Macuk said. “We don’t go looking for people’s mailbox keys.”
For Hanson, who just picked up her newly repaired and re-sized ring from the jeweler Wednesday, the sewer workers’ efforts and results are nothing short of miraculous.
“I’d done a lot of praying to St. Anthony,” Hanson said, explaining that he’s the patron saint of lost items. “I feel I ought to write a letter to the pope and let him know we had a miracle here in Central Point.”
