Howell car wash worker dug through muddy trash to rescue customer's wedding band from doom

On a Saturday in late March, Darryl Watkins took his car to 33 East Car Wash in Howell. As he vacuumed the interior, he took off his diamond-studded wedding band — to avoid it getting scuffed — and placed it into the center console.

Or so he thought.

Sometime later Watkins, who doesn’t wear the ring every day, realized it was missing.

“I thought, ‘Oh my God, I must have vacuumed it up,’” the 55-year-old Howell resident said.

What happened next is a reminder that, in a society seemingly awash with bad news, there are plenty of good people out there.

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Digging through the trash

To mark Watkins’ 10th wedding anniversary, his band was upgraded last year at a cost of $4,600, but it wasn’t insured because he hadn’t gotten it appraised. He reached out to the car wash at the earliest opportunity — rain had shut it down for a couple of days — and was told by an employee that it was probably too late; the vacuums were emptied regularly.

After racking his brain and searching his house and car some more, Watkins returned to the car wash. Now two weeks had passed. He told his story to employee Willie Evans, who informed him that actually, the vacuums were emptied every few weeks — there was a fair chance his ring was still in there. But Evans didn’t have immediate access to the key that could open them up.

“Leave me your name and number and if it’s in there, I’ll make sure you get your ring back,” Evans said.

So Watkins left, cautiously hopeful.

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“About an hour later Willie called me and said, ‘I’ve got your ring,’” Watkins said.

It wasn’t exactly easy to find.

“You had to dig through the trash and dirt, and since it had been raining, everything was muddy, but there was his ring,” Evans said. “I took it into the office and cleaned it up.”

This wasn’t the first time Evans dug through the trash at a customer’s behest. It was, however, the first time he’d retrieved jewelry from it.

“We do get some people who think they have vacuumed up something valuable and we’ll check, but we don’t find anything,” he said. “They think they vacuumed it up, but then they’ll find it somewhere else.”

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A show of appreciation

Needless to say, Watkins was grateful. But he wanted to do more than say thanks.

“Willie could easily have said, ‘Nah, I didn’t find it, and then pawned the ring,’ or he didn’t have to take the time to look for it.” Watkins said. “So it showed honesty and integrity. I gave him a little something for helping me out, just to show my appreciation.”

Then he called Evans’ boss, 33 East Car Wash general manager Alex Torres, to tell him about it.

“For him to call me and thank me, I thought that was very nice,” Torres said. “You always hear the negative; you never hear the positive.”

The 58-year-old Evans, a Freehold Township resident who’s worked at the car wash for two years, is “a very nice guy, very respectful,” Torres said.

When Watkins showed up to get the ring, Evans told him, “Hey, my mom taught me that if something don’t belong to you, you don’t take it.”

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That’s how Watkins was raised, too, but he knows not everyone adheres to that credo. So as a final measure of appreciation he contacted the Asbury Park Press to spread the word.

“It should be recognized,” Watkins said. “You read about a ton of negative things, and this is a feel-good story.”

You can bet Watkins will return to 33 East Car Wash — with a big greeting for his newfound friend.

“I’m just glad I was able to help him out,” Evans said. “I’m happy he got his ring back.”

Jerry Carino is community columnist for the Asbury Park Press, focusing on the Jersey Shore’s interesting people, inspiring stories and pressing issues. Contact him at jcarino@gannettnj.com.

This article originally appeared on Asbury Park Press: Wedding band saved from muddy trash at Howell car wash