84-year-old widower devastated after wife's wedding rings lost at hospital
'When they finally told me, I went out and cried,' says Fred Schmidt, who was married to Marion for 57 years
An 84-year-old man from Victoria whose wife recently died said his grief was amplified when he found out her wedding rings had been lost at hospital.
Marion Schmidt died of complications from pneumonia at Victoria General Hospital earlier this month.
Not long after, her husband Fred Schmidt went to the hospital to pick up his late wife's engagement and wedding rings. He said staff told him they had no record of the rings and they haven't been found since.
"When they finally told me, I went out and cried," said Fred. "I couldn't contain myself. It represented the tangible 57 years of our married life."
Fred met Marion at a church while he was on holiday in 1960. He said she caught his eye as she walked across the room.
They married when they were 26. The couple didn't have children and Fred said Marion was his closest companion.
"She happened to be larger than life," said Fred, who still wears his own gold wedding band.
Hospital officials said staff are in a "fact-finding" phase to figure out what happened to Marion's rings.
"We unfortunately do misplace belongings from time to time," Jon Schmid, clinical operations director of Victoria General Hospital, told CHEK News on Thursday.
"We're very sorry for the situation at hand today and we're currently in an active phase to find the belongings."
Fred said Marion's rings weren't expensive, but they were invaluable to him.
"All I want is not excuses, I want someone to be held responsible for what happened ... So far it's been an impossibility," he said.
