It was down to the wire Friday for husband-to-be Thomas Cramer, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
His wedding was just one day away and the engagement ring for his fiancee was somewhere among the 10 truckloads of mail quarantined at the Hamilton Township postal facility after it was contaminated with anthrax.
On Friday, the post office delivered.
At a ceremony outside the Hamilton facility, Trenton Postmaster Joseph Sautello presented Cramer with the ring-a gold band with a heart-shaped diamond and two smaller gems, the AP reported. Certified anthrax-free.
Cramer presented it to his fiancee.
“I love it,” Amanda Boone, 23, reportedly said.
“At least it’s not going to look like I didn’t get her a ring,” Cramer told the AP after kissing her.
Cramer, 30, bought the ring at a Hamilton jewelry store, then mailed it to his father in Ohio so Boone wouldn’t find it. When Cramer was ready to give her the ring, his father mailed it back-just in time for anthrax scares to shutter post offices around New Jersey, the AP reported.
Cramer said he told his betrothed about the ring, and even showed her the paperwork to prove he bought it. He approached postal inspectors in late October and asked for help in retrieving the ring, the AP reported.
Once the ring was located, it was sanitized and vacuumed to ensure there was no anthrax on it, the AP reported. Postal Inspector Tony Esposito said he had no worries about delivering it.
The other 500,000 pieces of mail at the Hamilton facility were irradiated last week to kill any possible anthrax bacteria and will be delivered next week. The ring was the first piece of mail delivered from the facility since it closed Oct. 18, the AP reported.
Cramer said the wedding would have still gone on without the ring-complete with flowers, cake and wedding bands, the AP reported.
Cramer told the AP that he was surprised by the amount of attention the incident has gotten, but he said he’s proud of his efforts: “I’m just glad I didn’t cheap out and get a tiny chip.”
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