Precious wedding rings stolen
Article content
When Deb Lamoure came home from work last Wednesday there were police on her street.
"I thought, 'oh gee, I hope nothing bad's happened.' I pulled into my driveway and started making supper, and then I went to go into my garage... and went 'oooh'. My garage door was all pulled apart. The latch was on the floor. Wood splinters were everywhere. You're thinking, 'oooh.' And then it hits you. 'Yeah, I'm another one.'"
She went outside, asked her neighbour what the police were doing, and was told there were several break-and-enters.
"I said, "I think somebody's been in my house too."
Her home was one of a number of daylight break-ins on Wednesday, June 4, on Quarter Town Line, William Street, Myrtle Street, and North Street.
"The only thing that I believe was stolen was my wedding rings, and I'm desperately trying to get them back. I thought about phoning pawn shops, but the police said often, if they take jewellery, you don't get it back."
If sharing her story could in any way help, Lamoure wanted to try.
"Somehow, if anybody should happen to find them... perhaps I could get them back. I don't know, I was just trying anything desperate to see how I could get the rings back. I thought if somebody was in a store, and they saw these rings... if they were on alert for them... would it help? I don't know. I just wanted to find any way I could to get them back. I know the chances are slim, but they are nothing if I don't try.
"Expense-wise, they were not expensive rings. But they were something preciouse to me. They were worth everything."
Lamoure's wedding band and her husband David's wedding band have been together since he died 29 years ago from cancer. She was 28 when she became a widow.
"He's been gone a long time, but those rings really meant something."
Her husband's ring was engraved – For today, tomorrow, and forever – for their 1978 wedding.
"It would be distinguishable. Mine was a plain gold band with a diamond set in it. If anybody should happen to see them...
Lamoure remembers sharing stories about things that were taken or damaged, and things she might not get back.
"It was very... unsettling. I don't even know how to describe it. I had the two rings tied together, kind of as a symbol we'd always be tied together."
At the end, she could see how many people were badly affected by the break-ins.
"I think we see the damaged doors and the damaged windows, but we don't see the damaged hearts."
Lamoure said the OPP, talking with her after the break-in, were amazing.
"The police officers who had to deal with our families were wonderful. They were so sensitive and compassionate. I can't say enough about the work that they did. And I'm not the only person who felt that way – when I talked to my neighbours, they said what a wonderful job the police had done, they were very caring and supportive, very compassionate with the families."
Lamoure wants her message to get out.
"The rings meant a lot to me. They have sentimental value, they mean something to me and I think everybody who had things taken from their homes had those things too. And their own stories. And they're trying desperately to get things back as well."