Man proposes to girlfriend after missing engagement ring found in rubble after Texas tornado

LAMAR COUNTY, Texas -- A man who thought the engagement ring he bought for his girlfriend was gone for good was able to get down on one knee after all.

When a tornado hit their home in Lamar County, Texas last week, Dakota Hudson and Lauren Patterson lost almost everything.

Among the things they lost was the engagement ring Hudson had planned to propose to Patterson with.

Hudson told KXII that when he told his girlfriend about what happened, she'd assured him it was "alright" because all she needed was him.

However, not all hope was lost.

The Paris Junior College softball team came to their home to help them with tornado damage cleanup, and when they heard about the ring, they began searching.

Some of the girls on the team reportedly found pieces of the ring box, and about an hour later, another teammate found the ring in the mud under some rubble.

The ring was seven yards from its hiding place in the closet, out of the box and two inches underground.

As soon as the ring was recovered, Hudson got down on one knee amidst the tornado damage and asked Patterson to marry him. You can see the proposal in the video player above.

Patterson described the proposal as a "very surreal" moment in an interview with KXII. "I couldn't have asked for a better proposal," she said.