Marie Jewelers takes custom jewelry to a new level

By Deb Risden

It took about six months for Joselyn Rabbitt to find a jeweler who would bring her dream ring for her pilot fiancé to reality. It turned out to be Marie Jewelers in Falcon.

Rabbitt knew she wanted to do something special for her fiancé’s wedding ring. She had possession of three gold rings from his late grandfather, and she wanted to incorporate something representing his love of flying. Rabbitt said she did a lot of Google searching and found someone who made rings out of airplane parts, which started her creative thinking process. She then reached out to several jewelers in the Colorado Springs area to find one who could combine a stainless steel airplane part and the family heirloom rings. No one had the capability or capacity to do so.

Another jeweler recommended Marie Jewelers. “I was lucky I got that recommendation. It was early this year and I was starting to panic with the wedding coming up in June,” Rabbitt said.

Hollie Arrington, co-owner of Marie Jewelers, said Rabbitt came into their store with gold rings that belonged to her fiance’s grandfather. “We did a CAD design about how to assemble the three parts — a yellow gold band as an inlay in a steel ring,” Arrington said. The airplane part was called an outboard flap track. She said it’s a bearing from the back of the wing that engages when the flaps go in and out during takeoff and landing. “It fits in the palm of your hand and is heavy, weighing over 100 grams,” Arrington said.

Rabbitt said she contacted United Airlines, her fiance’s employer, through social media to request an airplane part for the ring. She said they were excited to participate and were engaged in the process. Rabbitt said they plan to post the story about the ring on social media.

Janelle McNeil, co-owner of Marie Jewelers, said they were excited to take on the job and it turned out that the casting company they use had experience with casting steel. “We found out they actually got their start in making parts for planes and were very familiar,” McNeil said.

Rabbitt said the ring is a surprise for her fiancé. “He knows the gold for his ring came from his grandfather’s rings. I got his and his family’s permission to melt down the rings,” Rabbitt said. She estimates the rings are about 90 to 100 years old. “The rings are from the USSR because his family came from Odesa, Ukraine, which was part of the USSR 30 years ago,” Rabbitt said. “When you have heirlooms, you feel bad for melting them down. Now they are not the originals your family wore. But also, when they’re sitting in a box and maybe nobody can wear them because they can’t fit or it’s not their style, they’re not any good that way. At least turning them into something you are going to wear, it’s something you can see every day.”

All of the melted gold wasn’t needed for the wedding ring because it is mostly stainless steel, so Rabbitt asked Marie Jewelers to make a Star of David necklace as a gift to her future mother-in-law.

Greg Aleksandrovsky, the groom, has been a pilot for about 10 years. He began flying commercial jets in 2021. The couple got engaged on the day he received his flight wings.

Rabbitt serves in the Space Force, stationed at Schriever Space Force Base. She grew up in Ohio and he grew up in California. They met in college in Arizona.

It took Marie Jewelers five weeks to complete the ring and the Star of David necklace. “This is very different from any request we’ve had thus far. This was super unique,” McNeil said. “We hope to do more things out of the box like this.”

Update: The interview with Babbitt took place prior to the wedding. After their June 20 wedding, Aleksandrdovsky said, “I was absolutely astonished with this amazing and meaningful ring. When she told me about how she did it, I just could not believe she made it happen. I am extremely lucky to have such a thoughtful and creative wife.”