My ring story
I looked at this post to see where "dupage" is. After reading the story I had to reply. I did the same thing. Lost my wedding ring at a swimming club. Not a pool, it was a man made, 2 acre lake. They had installed a sandy beach at one end. I lost the ring as I was crawling around in shallow water with the kids climbing on my back like I was an alligator. So......I bought a Heathkit metal detector kit and built it (guess I'm dating myself here). Well, the dam thing worked. I drove past the lake for a few years knowing they dropped it's level every few years for maintenance or whatever. It happened, all the previously submerged sand was exposed. I quickly explained my predicament to the owner and was allowed to search. I found coin after coin after coin. It was insane how much clad was in that sand. After years of waiting, you know, I found that wedding ring. When I pulled it out of the sand it looked like the day it fell off. I've obviously up graded my equipment but that ring is what got me started in this hobby.
Best of luck on your search.