Good things come to those who wait.

Joyce Wharton lost both of her parents in a small plane crash in 1959. The plane was to arrive in Seattle, but never made it, according to news reports. The crash site was located 15 years later in a heavily wooded area in Washington.

Locating the crash site brought some peace and closure to Wharton and her family.

But just this week, there was an unexpected call from a stranger who said that he had found her mother’s wedding ring.  Nick Buchanan, who is a logger, found the ring while hiking with a buddy in the plane crash site area. He had the ring for 20 years before tech-savvy family members helped him use Ancestry.com to locate the ring’s rightful owner.

Wharton now lives in New Jersey, but thanks to the determination and kindness of a stranger, she will have the wedding ring that her mother wore. Wharton calls it her “Christmas miracle.”

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Rose Scott signals as Closer Look goes on air in the WABE studio. An Atlanta resident left WABE a $3 million donation, a boost after WABE lost $1.9 million in annual funding from the Corporation of Public Broadcasting. (Ben Gray / AJC file)

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