A year ago, her engagement ring vanished at a hospital. She still cherishes the man who gave it to her

When Faye Bauman went to a Florida hospital for surgery last year, she handed her diamond engagement ring to a nurse — and never saw it again. The ring carries profound memories of her late husband and the moment he proposed to her 57 years ago.

Faye Bauman was wearing her diamond ring when she fell and broke her hip. It was June of last year, and she was 85. At North Florida Hospital in Gainesville, she took off several pieces of jewelry, including the ring, and gave them to a nurse. After the surgery, recovering at a rehab center, she realized she’d left the hospital without her jewelry — including the diamond engagement ring from the love of her life. She could still remember the look in his eyes when he gave her that ring. Eager and innocent. They’d met at a party, and by the end they were holding hands under the table. He saved up to buy her the ring. A half-carat diamond in white gold. One day he showed up at her office and dropped to one knee. He looked stunning in his Navy dress uniform. She said yes, slipping the ring onto her finger, sliding it around to make the diamond catch the light. Fifty-six years later, in a newer band of yellow gold, that diamond vanished from the hospital. Faye Bauman wanted to know why. For almost 12 months, she and her daughter tried to find answers. They spoke with at least four hospital officials. Bauman filed a police report, which classified the missing jewelry as a grand theft. But they got no satisfaction. The jewelry seemed to be gone forever. By May 2024, they say, no one had offered to make the situation right. Finally, Bauman told news reporters about her plight. In a long message sent from her iPad, during which she apologized for any errors that might be caused by her macular degeneration, she wrote, “At the present time, the CEO is not returning my;our calls. I have done everything they have told me to do but at this point it seems I don’t exist.”