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Wedding ring lost while helping during snow storm returned to owner

ATLANTA — A man who lost his ring during the snow storm has it back thanks to a good Samaritan's efforts to track him down. 

"I just looked down in the snow and could see something shiny," Brendan Foley told Channel 2's Amy Napier Viteri. 
 
Foley lives in Cumming but got stuck in Buckhead and spent the night helping drivers near Peachtree-Dunwoody Road and Starlight Drive, where he found a man's wedding ring. 

"I just thought, 'Gosh, whoever is missing that I'd do whatever I can to try to find that person,'" Foley said.

The ring's owner, Jack Joyce, also spent the night helping drivers after leaving his own car to walk his wife and children home when they couldn't make it up the icy roads. 

"I walked her and the kids back, came back down the hill because, kind of paying it forward to help other people do it as well," Joyce explained. 

After hours in the freezing temperatures, Joyce didn't notice his ring was gone until he got home. 
 
The Foleys, meanwhile, told Channel 2 Action News they set up an email account in an effort to hear from the ring's owner and also sent a description to a neighborhood email chain. 
 
That's how an acquaintance of Joyce's heard about the story and brought the Foleys to his attention. He contacted Foley and the men arranged to meet. 

"Here it is," Joyce said. "I never thought this would happen today, so big surprise."

The Foleys said they too were surprised to the reaction to the story and the amount of kind emails they received from people who heard about the story. 

"That's the best memory of the whole thing, is so many people helping each other out in a situation like that," Foley said.
Joyce said he was so convinced he wouldn't find the ring again he ordered a replacement, but said he was thrilled to have the original back.