After 20 Years A Ring Lost and Found
23 Feb 2007
It's an unlikely story - after more than two decades, the lost college ring of a retired undercover CIA agent was reported found in an underwater cave.
In early February, a staff writer named Steven Ruic at Notre Dame college was e-mailed by a professional diver from Germany claiming he'd found a ring bearing the Notre Dame insignia. The diver discovered the lost ring - engraved with 1976 as the graduation year - while diving near Africa's Maurtius coast. Unfortunately the ring was without the thin, underside piece that typically bears the owner's name.
Hoping to reunite the owner with their long lost and found ring, Ruic publicized the surprising discovery in correspondence to university staff and via an alumni newsletter, but to no avail.
Perhaps even more suprising were the events that followed. While interviewing members of the 1976 graduating class for a separate story, Ruic asked one of the alumnus if she had ever visited the African coast. "I couldn't believe it," exclaimed Ruic. The woman said, "No, but Clare Lopez has."
Ms. Lopez - a '76 graduate of Notre Dame and previous CIA agent - had been stationed outside Mauritius in the early to mid-80's and had lost the ring during a diving expedition.
Ruic connected the German diver with a thankful Lopez via e-mail correspondence and they have arranged for the lost and found ring to be mailed to her.
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