Lost wedding ring found after missing in lake for 14 years

MERCER, Wisc. (WJFW) - A Wisconsin couple has found their wedding ring that went missing for over a decade.

Mike and Tracy Kroening have a home in the Mercer area.

In 2009, they met their neighbors and their kids on Swimmers Island. Everyone was having fun swimming and playing that day.

Mike Kroening was tossing one of the kids into the water when something unimaginable happened.

“As I threw him, he grabbed my hand and pulled my platinum wedding band off, and it was lost,” Mike Kroening said. “We got diving masks and we looked for the wedding band for many hours and days but couldn’t find it.”

The couple said they figured the ring was gone for good and even purchased a replacement.

They’ve been back to the island thousands of times over the past 14 years, but never really thought about the ring until Mike Kroening saw a Facebook post.

“I saw a picture of a ring. It looked just like my ring, and again, 14 years later it was stained with the color of the water, but I reached out to the person,” Mike Kroening said.

Bill Stewart was the person Mike Kroening contacted as he somehow found the missing ring all these years later.

“It blew me away that within half an hour I had a message already from Mike,” Stewart, with the lake association, said. “I was surprised we found anyone that recognized the ring and so quickly.”

Stewart said he had to make sure it was the right owner, so he asked Mike Kroening what was inscribed on the band.

“It’s our wedding song. I had it engraved with those words and the date of our wedding,” Mike Kroening said.

Mike Kroening ended up going to Stewart’s house that night and was reunited with his ring 14 years after it had been lost.

“Like a needle in a haystack or winning the lottery, or something along those lines,” Mike Kroening said. “But I haven’t won the lottery yet.”

No doubt he will be watching that ring on his finger closely.

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