Woman Searches For Lost Wedding Ring That Was Her Grandmother's

SOUTHOLD, NY — A Southold woman is searching desperately for her lost wedding ring, given to her by her beloved grandmother.

"This is my wedding band, which was also my grandmother’s wedding band," Dina Reilly wrote on Facebook. "This ring is 95 years old. I lost it over the summer and have been searching for it since."

The ring, she said, may have ended up in a bag of clothes that was donated.

"I don’t think the ring has much monetary value, but it means so much to me. It’s irreplaceable and one of the few items I have of my grandmother’s," Reilly said. "Please help me make this viral in hopes that someone, somewhere has it and could return it to me."

Reilly said she believes the ring, which first belonged to her grandmother Frances Rizzo, may have fallen into a bag of clothing that was put into a donation box at the Southold transfer station. "It could have gone in the trash. I just don’t know. I’m so sad about it and I don’t even have any good pictures of it. The photo shown is the only one I could find."

Her grandmother, Reilly said, gave her husband Dennis the wedding band and her engagement ring 17 years ago, after they told her they wanted to get married. "She told him, 'You can’t afford the ring my granddaughter deserves, so give her these.'"

The ring, which Reilly said went missing in July or August, might also have ended up in a dumpster, "which would be just awful," she said.

She's been searching her house and yard for months, to no avail. "Honestly, it could be just about anywhere," she said.

Her grandmother, Reilly said, passed away in 2005 at the age of 95. "She outlived her husband and both of her children. My dad passed away in 2003 — the day we got engaged," she said.

Reilly and her husband, meanwhile, married just five months after their first date. "It was a very short engagement," she said.

But their marriage was blessed by a ring that held deep meaning — and by her grandmother. "I was lucky enough to have my grandma at my wedding," she said.

If you have any information on the missing ring, please email Lisa.Finn@patch.com or reach out in the comments section.