Dennis Boothby of Saco is one of three Maine members of Ring Finders of Maine. He has helped people all over the state locate lost rings, keys and more. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

SACO — Losing your wedding or engagement ring is a lot more common than you might think. Four out of 10 men will lose a ring, according to jewelry insurance company Zillion. For women, industry estimates are 1 in 3.

It happens when people exercise, engage in watersports. It happens at home, or when they’re lounging at the beach. It can be embarrassing or worse — a devastating experience to lose a treasured piece of jewelry, and the fear of never finding it becomes a distinct possibility.

That’s where Dennis Boothby of Saco comes in. He’s part of a global network of metal detecting specialists called Ring Finders of Maine. It was founded by Chris Turner 16 years ago in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Boothby, Sean Kelly in Rockport and Bill McDougall in Bangor make up Ring Finders of Maine, answering calls for help year-round, just about anywhere in the state. They don’t charge a fee for their services, although they could. All they ask is payment for their transportation, which is usually gas and tolls.

“I just want to help people and, you know, I’m an amputee and I tell people there’s a lot of things I can do, but there’s a lot of things I can’t do,” Boothby explained Wednesday from his home in Saco.

“When I was growing up, there were things I had problems with and somebody always would help me,” he added. “So, now that I retired I want to help people.”

Boothby lost his arm in a laundromat accident at only 4 years old, something that still haunts his dreams to this day.

Dennis Boothby of Saco, a member of Ring Finders of Maine, started metal detecting after his daughter became bored with the device in 2000 or 2001. He got his start at Old Orchard Beach, where he’s seen looking for treasure in August 2024. Submitted photo

He retired four years ago from manufacturer Nichols Portland, where he ran the production floor as a work leader. Boothby bought a metal detector for his daughter in 2000 or 2001, he said. But within a few weeks the 10-year-old grew tired of metal detecting and Dennis started fooling around at Old Orchard Beach, just a few miles from his home.

Working the overnight shift, he found himself on the beach in the middle of the night on his days off. “It wasn’t so much finding the stuff but you just have the headphones on, you know, you’re in your own little zone.” Boothby described the serenity of being on the beach in the summer with nobody around and the screeching tones of the metal detector as he swept back and forth waiting for a hit.

SUCCESS AND FAILURE GO HAND-IN-HAND

There are plenty of tips on how to find a lost ring, from retracing your steps to renting a metal detector.

But Boothby said not all detectors are equal and only specialized detectors can tell the difference between ferrous metals such as iron and stainless steel and nonferrous metals like gold.

Boothby has refined his equipment choices and knowledge of metal detecting over the years, adding a submersible detector and other specialty gear to his arsenal — allowing him to separate the types of metal he is looking for.

He signed up for Ring Finders in May 2023 and has recovered at least 90 rings for people so far.

Dennis Boothby of Saco, a member of Ring Finders of Maine, has various detectors and pieces of equipment to help him find anything made of metal. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

“The most common way people lose things, they take them (rings) off to put lotion on — to put them in the cup holder of the chair or in their lap,” Boothby explained. “Then they get up, they pick up the chair, it falls into the sand, it’s a very small area.”

Many beaches clean the sand with machinery daily in the summer months, reducing the chances of recovery. Losing a ring in the water is even more difficult, Boothby said, especially the farther out an item is lost, due to tides, waves and currents.

The most unusual find was a miniature urn with ashes inside at Old Orchard Beach. He was called to another beach where a woman had lost several rings and Boothby managed to recover a wedding ring worth $17,000.

Dennis Boothby of Ring Finders of Maine holds two gold and diamond rings Wednesday that he found with his metal detector. He holds on to items he finds until he can locate the owner. Daryn Slover/Sun Journal

Then there was the woman who called about a lost Rolex watch on a pond near Bridgton. Hours and hours of searching turned up nothing. Just last week she called to say she found the watch in a recycling bin in her garage.

Boothby isn’t always able to find the owners of items he finds. Some are damaged and many don’t have a lot of monetary value.

SUCCESSFUL REUNIONS

Time is not usually on your side when it comes to lost jewelry. Yet, Boothby’s most rewarding find was an 18-karat gold Buddha pendant with a small gold heart attached. He found them in 2006 about 150 yards off the pier at Old Orchard Beach and took them home and locked them in a safe. He tried in vain to find the owner, posting on Craigslist, as Facebook was just getting started.

Dennis Boothby of Saco stands in November 2024 with Han Tu of Worcester, Mass., after delivering a gold Buddha pendant and heart that Tu lost 18 years prior while vacationing at Old Orchard Beach. Submitted photo

Han Tu of Worcester, Massachusetts, was vacationing at Old Orchard Beach when he lost that jade Buddha — a high school graduation gift from his family that years later he told Boothby they couldn’t afford. A dear friend gave him a gold heart, which he attached to the Buddha and wore it all the time.

He lost it swimming and for 18 years, never stopped looking for it. He even bought a replacement. The friend who gave him the heart died in an auto accident in November 2006. Last May, Tu came across a Facebook post from Ring Finders of Maine and he reached out to Boothby inquiring if he had found the necklace.

At first, the heart didn’t ring a bell but Boothby remembered the Buddha pendant. He had locked it in an old safe he hadn’t opened in a decade. The electronic lock didn’t work — the battery had lost its juice many years back. Eventually, Boothby opened the safe and found the heart attached to the Buddha.

Instead of calling, Boothby and his wife researched Tu’s address, drove to Worcester on a Saturday morning last November and rang the doorbell. “He’s going to be so happy, he’s going to be jumping up high-fiving,” Boothby recalled thinking. But that’s not the reaction he got. “He just broke down and cried and he just couldn’t stop,” Boothby said of Tu.

The story was all over Boston media and the two plan to meet again this summer when Tu and his family come back for their annual summer vacation.

Samantha Norwood of Sabattus was frantic in January when she stepped outside to clean the snow off her car before heading to work. “I went to clean off the window with my fleece, shook my hand you know to get the snow off … it launched my ring into the snow.”

Considering she only got engaged last October, Norwood said she felt panicked. “I’ve never really worn rings, so I had no idea how it was supposed to fit. We think my ring was a little too big.”

It’s not an uncommon issue.

They searched for six hours, even borrowing a metal detector from her grandfather. “I started taking buckets of snow and melting it in my bathtub,” Norwood recalls. By now, the rest of the family was up with all the commotion. Then she became worried she might have lost it in the drain of the bathtub as the snow melted.

She said her fiancé was really great through the whole ordeal. “He just wanted me to find it and my dad, same thing. He was really upset because he knew how much it meant to me,” Norwood said Thursday.

Her fiance and father both reached out to Ring Finders of Maine, who promised to be there first thing in the morning. Fresh off knee surgery, Boothby enlisted the help of his friend Gary Hill and together they set out from Saco to Sabattus.

Gary Hill, left, and Dennis Boothby, right, of Ring Finders of Maine stand with Samantha Norwood in January after they found her engagement ring that slipped off as she was clearing snow off her car in Sabattus. Submitted photo

“Gary was scanning the driveway and then I started talking to Dennis,” Norwood said, “signing the paperwork, and before I could even explain the full story to him, he found it in the snow.”

Boothby hadn’t even turned his detector on yet and they were there only about five minutes before finding her ring.

“It was a stressful couple of days, so you know the relief I found just brought me tears,” the bride-to-be said. She’s since had her ring resized — it was a size too big.

“Thankful,” she added. “They really just want to help people find their rings … and seeing their reaction to my reaction. It’s really clear that they just love to help people.”

Being a member of Ring Finders of Maine gets Boothby outside, doing something that gives him great satisfaction. “It’s the greatest feeling in the world, it really is,” he said.