A self-portrait of artist Carol Stewart. Photo: Supplied.
Wagga artist and art teacher Carol Stewart is hoping the community can help her recover a treasured ring that slipped off her finger for the first time in 40 years.
Carol has been undergoing chemotherapy for stage 4 pancreatic cancer and she was devastated to discover this week that the engagement ring she received from her husband John in 1966 was missing.
“I’ve got arthritis so I hadn’t removed the rings for years, but I’ve lost so much weight with the chemo that they just fell off,” she said.
“I parked up there behind Calvary Hospital and I think I might have lost them in the carpark and somebody might have picked it up.
“It’s an engagement ring with one diamond and 10 little diamonds around it and I’ve got two eternity rings that have been joined on each side because they used to run around and wear each other, so it’s quite a decent sized one and it’s not something you’re going to miss if you do come across it!”
Carol describes herself as “Wagga born and bred, never to leave”, and she loves being a part of the region’s thriving local art scene.
“I didn’t get into painting until I was about 30, and I’d actually wanted to be a maths teacher, but I think being an art teacher is a lot better,” she said with a chuckle.
“I love it; it’s a great pastime and you’re never bored if you can paint.”
John and Carol Stewart in the 1960s and today with the missing ring (lower right) Photo: Supplied.
It was after losing her job and struggling to find work that Carol decided to turn her hobby into a mid-life career change and share her skills as an artist.
The talented painter hasn’t looked back and has been teaching fine arts from her home studio on Bolton Street for four decades.
While treatment takes up a lot of her time, Carol continues to hold classes with a handful of her regular students.
“I’ve had to give up my kids classes; some of them had been with me a long time and I really miss them,” she said.
“I’m just doing three adult classes at the moment and I plan on doing that until I can’t teach anymore.”
Carol said she was grateful for the support she had received from the Wagga community and the state-of-the-art treatment at the Riverina Cancer Care Centre.
“Wagga is just such a great place to live and since I’ve been sick, it’s been incredible to have all these friends coming in wanting to help you, and I don’t think that would happen in the big cities,” she said.
“The cancer place up at Calvary has just been unreal and we’re so lucky to have something like that here in Wagga; it’s just so lovely up there and they have been wonderful.”
Continuing with the community spirit, Carol is hopeful that someone may have found her ring while visiting Calvary Hospital.
“We’ve never really had that much money, but over the years we got those rings, and I’ve had them for so long that they are very sentimental.”
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