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Posted on 05/17/2022 10:45:48 AM PDT by Red Badger
GULF SHORES, Ala. (WALA) - In the most unlikely of outcomes, a Wisconsin man who lost his dentures in the Gulf of Mexico last Monday will be getting them back thanks to a bizarre stroke of luck. A Mississippi man, vacationing in Gulf Shores later the same week just happened to find them while snorkeling near the shore.
The odds against finding the false teeth were tremendous, especially once you actor in the teeth were lost on a Monday. They weren’t found until that Friday and had moved more than two miles to the west.
“They actually scared me,” said Aaron Welborn. “I was like, where’s the rest of this guy’s teeth?”
For Aaron and his wife, Blaire, this year’s annual Gulf Shores vacation will assuredly rank as the most memorable. It will forever be entwined with that of another family’s, who they’ve never met.
To get the full story, we need to back up four days. Randy Williams of Wisconsin was in the water when the wind blew off his hat.
“And I went to grab my hat and I was sideways, and a wave just came in and hit me alongside the head and I felt them,” recalled Randy Williams during a phone interview from Wisconsin. “I felt them when I went in the water and I had them in my hand for a second in the ocean and away they went.”
Williams lost hope but made the most of his vacation and returned home Friday, May 13, 2022. About the same time, Welborn was wrapping up a snorkeling adventure just off the shoreline from his beach rental. He’d taken off his fins and snorkel and was headed to shore.
“I’m just like well, I’m going to put my goggles on and look down in the water as I walk up and maybe, just by chance I’ll find something and I stuck my head in the water and as soon as I stuck my head in the water, they were literally sitting there on the bottom, just smiling at me,” Welborn said.
A closer inspection revealed a name imprinted on the dentures. Now, the challenge was on. Find the right Randy Williams and reunite him with his lost uppers. Welborn went to Facebook and posted pictures of the teeth and it quickly got attention. Someone on the thread searched out Randy Williams in Gulf Shores and a hit came back. Contact was made and within 20 minutes, the right Randy was found.
“At first I thought it was somebody playing a joke on me and I said, yeah cause I didn’t know and she said, ‘My cousin found them,’ and I’m like, are you serious and she’s like, ‘Yeah’ and she gave me his phone number,” Williams said.
Aaron and Blaire Welborn stop by the Fox 10 News Studios to show of the dentures Aaron found... Aaron and Blaire Welborn stop by the Fox 10 News Studios to show of the dentures Aaron found while snorkeling in the Gulf of Mexico(Hal Scheurich) The last few days have been quite the adventure for the Welborns and Randy’s teeth; so much so that the “Denture Adventure” road trip has taken on a life of its own. The last stop in Alabama…the Fox 10 News studios.
“We have laughed a lot. We’ve deemed this story, it’s a story to really sink your teeth into,” laughed Blaire Welborn.
It’s a story they’ll probably tell their grandkids about one day. Randy Williams says the lucky find has saved him $2,000 in replacement dentures. As for the vacation here, he says it was great other than having to cut his shrimp into small pieces and not eat steak.
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not biting on this one
A happy story you can sink your teeth into.
2k? no bling?
Ain’t that the tooth!.....................
2K is cheap!....................
Of course not reading the article, I have to ask, did he have his phone number engraved in the dentures?
BBbbutt I thought heff care was free...
His name was, but all it said was “Randy Williams”.
The finder then went on Facebook to find the correct Randy Williams, and hooked up with his brother...............
It is, if you are a illegal alien.....................
Martha Rae’s Dentures?
I met a guy who used to go down to the Caribbean every April.
At the end of the tourist season. He would bring his scuba gear and underwater metal detector.
He would swim along the beach in 3-5’ of water with his under water metal detector. He claimed that he would find enough jewelry to finance his vacation. He stated that many people metal detect on the beach, but everything he found was in shallow water within 40’ of the beach. Mostly rings and gold chains.
We’ve been going to GS for the last 20+ years. We like it.
I used to do some underwater detecting at the beach. Didn’t find enough to pay for my vacation but it was fun finding a few things.
I still have my underwater detector but haven’t been diving in many years.
If found, please return to - - - -
I put that on my suitcase. Not my teeth.
I suspect this guy was embellishing the truth somewhat.
However, he said the important thing was to go at the end of the season. Also, to hit the beaches in front of the most expensive resorts.
He said you always scored better in front of the Four Seasons than you would in the water in front of the Second Best Western.
He did the same thing down on Cape Cod around Labor Day.
Aaron Welborn is the tooth fairy!
I lost a long lens for my expensive camera years ago in Italy, and months later after returning to the U.S., someone called my phone number written inside the case. I recompensed her for shipping it to me. There still are decent people in the world.
what model do you suggest for underwater detecting
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