Laura Escalante knows a lot about reunions — she plans them for a living.  

So, when the McMaster University alumni officer helped reunite a graduate with a ring he had lost in the Atlantic Ocean 47 years earlier, she knew it was special. 

But she admits she’s surprised how far the story has gone, and how it’s made headlines around the world in publications such as The New York Times, CNN and The Washington Post. 

“It was surprising when the story was shared and picked up by more and more news outlets, and wonderful to see it bring joy to a global audience,” says Escalante, a McMaster graduate herself.  

It was Escalante who answered the email from Alex Davis, a professional freediver who found the graduation ring while out on a dive with his underwater metal detector in Barbados. 

Armed with only two clues — the graduation year on the ring (1965) and the initials FMP — Escalante set off on her quest to solve the mystery of the ring’s rightful owner.   

Thanks to her and Davis, 1965 mathematics grad Frederick Morgan Perigo got a very special present on the eve of his 83rd birthday — the ring he thought he would never see again after losing it in the ocean while on a family trip to Barbados in 1977.  

Learn more about how the ring made its way back to Perigo after 47 years here 

Karen McQuigge, McMaster’s director of alumni engagement, says she was also surprised to see the story travel around the world, but calls the reaction to it heartwarming.  

Several things led to this happy reunion, she says.  

“First, our graduates feel connected to Mac. Twelve years after his graduation, Morgan was still wearing his 1965 class ring.”  

Perigo also kept in touch with the Alumni Office.

“He has stayed connected to Mac since his graduation 59 years ago. If he hadn’t done that, we likely would not have been able to find him and help return this special piece of Mac to him,” says McQuigge.  

“Mac is a special place and we are happy to support the connection whether it is one year, 20 years or 59 years and counting. 

“And lastly, at the heart of the story is human kindness,” says McQuigge. “Alex finding the ring and taking the initiative to find its lost owner, and our team receiving the message and doing our best to find Perigo and connecting him and Alex.”  

Escalante calls it one of the happiest moments of her career and says the story has touched the hearts of McMaster Alumni staff. 

“As a reunions officer, a large part of my job is bringing people together after many years. This reunion was different but equally poignant,” she says.  

In the News: Read more about the long-lost McMaster graduation ring in The New York Times, CNN, The Washington Post, People Magazine, CBC Hamilton and The Hamilton Spectator