Laurel man reunited with wedding ring lost in Peconic Bay

Anthony Catania had lost and found his wedding band twice before. But last month, when the platinum ring fell off his finger and into Peconic Bay, he thought his luck had run out.

Catania, 47, of Laurel, was playing in the water with his 3-year-old daughter at Founders Landing Park in Southold on Aug. 2 when he noticed his ring was gone. He and his friends searched the area for about an hour, feeling around in about 6 inches of water, but came up empty-handed.

Catania said it was the third time he’d lost the band. The first time, it slipped off his finger the day after his wedding while he was driving in Montauk, , and a few years ago, he lost it in some bushes near his home. In both cases, he said he was confident he'd be able to track it down, but this time he thought recovery “seemed impossible." He was already considering buying a silicone replacement.

“I had to kind of make peace with the fact that there’s a good chance I wouldn’t see it again.”

A couple days later, a friend of Catania’s connected him with James Parsons, a metal-detecting enthusiast.

Parsons, 54, of Mattituck, said he had found an old class ring in the waters off Veterans Beach, which he reunited with its owner just two weeks before he got the call from Catania. He searches for treasure all year round and said he was happy to help.

“It’s an awesome feeling when you can give something back,” said Parsons, a volunteer firefighter with the Mattituck Fire Department. “I think more of us need to be kind to people.”

A couple days after Catania lost the ring, Parsons searched unsuccessfully for a few hours but he wasn’t ready to give up quite yet. About two weeks later, Parsons took his metal detector back out to the beach and gave it another go.

Within five minutes of scanning the bay floor, his detector went off.

“The signal that came up was so strong, there was no other possibility — it had to be the ring,” Parsons said.

He found the band buried under about 8 inches of sand and handed it over to Catania, who was helping him search.

“I was blown away,” Catania said. “I thought it was a miracle.”  

Catania says he's now going to be more cautious when he's wearing the ring — and even took it off before his latest visit to Founders Landing Park.