Emily Dickerson, a 17-year-old student, had a remarkable experience when she lost a ring containing a jewel made of her father’s ashes, among three other sentimental rings, only to have it returned to her through a series of unexpected events. While out on a trip in San Antonio with her school choir, Dickerson had left her rings hidden in an empty Subway lunch box to keep them safe while she enjoyed the beach at Corpus Christi. However, in the rush of departure, she inadvertently left the box behind, which was discarded in a dumpster.

Overwhelmed with anxiety, Emily informed her mother, Tina Koch, about the situation. Her father had died when she was seven, and she wore the ring continuously as a symbol of his continued presence in her life. Tina reached out to the Department of Parks and Recreation in Corpus Christi, but it was late on a Friday, and her desperate voicemail was only picked up by Laura Perez, the parks operation supervisor, on the following Monday.

Despite the slim chances of retrieving the lost items, Perez decided to act. The beach’s waste bins were set to be emptied into a 40-yard dumpster and taken away, but it was still there when she called. Perez, along with Jesse Martinez and Robert Trevino, proceeded to sift through the weekend’s trash left baking in nearly 100°F heat. After hours of searching, they discovered the Subway boxes and, ultimately, the long-lost rings.

The ring with her father’s ashes was found first, but the group, despite Koch’s pleas that they had done enough, continued their search. Half an hour later, they had successfully recovered all four rings. The experience left Koch overwhelmed with gratitude, noting that she could not praise the trio enough for their extraordinary effort to retrieve the rings from the daunting environment of a hot, full dumpster.