Special delivery for a lost wedding ring

By Shana Wickett, Globe Correspondent

Mary Dolabany's Valentine's Day present came early: Her lost wedding ring.

The Norwood resident thought she would never see the ring again after losing it last weekend. But a West Roxbury letter carrier who found it on the ground embarked on a mission to find the owner.

“It was just amazing to me,” an overjoyed Dolabany, a 35-year-old mother of two, said today.

On Saturday, Frank Whall of Roslindale was running his postal route on Park Street in West Roxbury when he pulled over to drop off a package at St. Matthew’s Syrian Orthodox Church, where Dolabany and her husband, Rich, married 10 years ago. His mail truck’s lights bounced off the ring laying on the ground.

Cracker Jack prizes crossed his mind, Whall said with a laugh today. But on closer inspection, he said, “I knew right away someone had lost a very valuable ring.”

The glimmering 2-carat platinum ring – made up of Dolabany's wedding ring, adorned with a round diamond; her engagement band with 13 diamonds, given to her on Valentine’s Day 11 years ago; and a two-year anniversary band with 13 more diamonds – caught Whall’s eye.

On Monday morning, he delivered a letter of his own to the church, asking anyone who may have lost valuable jewelry to call him.

Dolabany lost the ring while running errands with her husband Saturday. When they stopped at the church, she took off the ring to apply lotion to her hands and dropped it on the ground when she got out of the car.

The couple called each place where they had run errands, including St. Matthew’s. By Tuesday – Dolabany’s birthday – she was beginning to think she would never see her ring again.

But then the phone rang. A St. Matthew’s priest called to wish Mary a happy birthday and to tell her about Whall’s letter. When the Dolabanys contacted Whall on Wednesday morning, he asked her to describe the jewelry.

She then met with Whall at the West Roxbury Post Office the next day, and tried on the ring. “Yup, it’s yours!” Whall said.

Dolabany is excited to have her ring back by Valentine’s Day. “I can never repay him for what he's has done for me.”

Whall, a father of three, said: “If my wife lost her wedding ring, I would hope someone would do the same thing.”