Kicker: lost and found

MARY REICHARD, HOST: Here’s an unlikely story of lost, then found.

Frederick Morgan Perigo was on a family vacation in Barbados. Somehow his treasured graduation ring for McMaster University class of 1965 came off in the ocean.

Perigo searched for the ring, but eventually he had to give up.

Fast forward nearly a half century later, and what do you know? A professional free diver named Alex Davis was trying out a new underwater metal detector:

DAVIS: I see this shiny gold band sticking out the sand, and my eyes just kind of lit up. I had a little brief moment where I kind of did the whole Lord of the Rings, Smeagol, you know, precious after seeing that.

Davis marveled at the timing:

DAVIS: I mean, I was born in 1990. I'm 34 years old, and I'm like, that ring has been lost longer than I've been on this planet.

Undaunted, Davis tracked Perigo down with just the school name, year, and initials engraved on the ring. And here’s the best part: he shipped the ring just in time for Perigo’s 83rd birthday.

LINDSAY MAST, HOST: Shorely providential!

REICHARD: It’s The World and Everything in It.

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