“I was reunited with my 41-year-old crucifix,” Lamont Smith wrote. It was his own design and a silversmith in Santa Fe, New Mexico, made it for him. “I lost it four years ago while rowing on Fishhawk Lake, and I found it on Sunday, Aug. 27.” The lake is in the Mist-Birkenfeld area.

“A brief background … I row, a daily exercise routine, on the lake, averaging 250 to 300 days per year. It takes 1.5 hours. I lost my crucifix and pendant four years ago this summer, in 2019.

“I knew approximately where, so when they lowered the lake to work on the new fish ladder and spillway, my mail carrier, Tim Hammerberg, and a couple of neighbors, Grace Chadwick and Mark Bussey, offered to use metal detectors and see if we could find it. 

“And we did find it … in about 3 feet of Fishhawk Lake sediment. Hopefully we will have the lake levels back to normal by first of November.”

“I’m handicapped, so I was very fortunate to have help,” he added. “Tim and my neighbors are the heroes. Tim is above-all the hero; he took time out on his only day off to help us locate the crucifix with his metal detectors. It was a miracle!”