'Jewelry Survives All Of Us': Man Repurposes Ring From Late Wife

WAUKESHA, WI — Joe Schaefer, of Waukesha, wasn't going to let swollen fingers stop him from keeping his wedding ring. The ring represented a 63-year love story, which didn't end with his wife Barbara's death in 2019.

Thanks to a Brookfield jewelry store, his wedding ring has a new look, but it holds the same symbol of love and devotion.

Since eloping with Barbara on March 18, 1956, Schaefer has never been without his wedding ring. As a very private person, he wouldn't divulge too much information, but said he had dated Barbara for a few years before deciding to take the plunge.

The key to a happy marriage, he said, was family. Schaefer has four children, 11 grandchildren and 12 great-grandchildren, with one on the way.

"She [Barbara] didn't like to travel, but she liked playing around with the family most of the time," Schaefer told Patch.

Towards the end of her life, Barbara was diagnosed with cancer and dementia.

She had trouble remembering her husband, so he would slip her ring on her finger to remind her that she was married.

"I left the ring on her when she was buried," Schaefer said.

Unfortunately, he ran into challenges with his own ring when his fingers began to swell. Shortly after his wife died, they swelled to the point that his ring had to be cut off.

"After Barbara passed away, I figured I had to get it off," he said.

Schaefer couldn't bear to part with his ring, so he began looking for a way to save it.

'Jewelry Survives All Of Us'

The Schaefer family went to Craig Husar in 2019 to look into making the ring into a necklace with a white gold cross added to it.

Schaefer cried when he was presented with the pendant, Husar said.

"I get to celebrate some pretty unique moments in my customers' lives," he told Patch. "They're not always good ones. I know there is marriage, divorce, and death. It all comes with the territory."

Husar is the owner of Craig Husar Fine Diamonds & Jewelry Designs. He said projects like Schaefer's are some of the most memorable.

Husar has a million stories like Schaefer's, and said inherited rings and other jewelry can often be resized or repurposed into something sentimental.

He recently had a woman bring in her spouse's late grandfather's ring. She asked for Husar to combine the rings to make a custom piece, so he joined the rings with two new rose gold bands.

"Grandpa's ring was this very fine engraved platinum band with his wedding date and initials of his family inside," Husar said.

Another customer, who recently lost her mother, inherited a bowling league trophy. On the trophy was a little engraved ring, almost like a cuff bracelet.

Staff at the store took the band with her mother's name and bowling scores, cut it in half, and turned it into a cuff bracelet for her daughter.

Husar didn't get a reaction from the woman at first, but a week later she told him all she could do was look at the bracelet.

"That is the beauty of jewelry," Husar said. "Jewelry survives all of us."