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"I was the first grandchild," Smith told CBC News. "My pop and I were like best friends, and he was always, like, hanging out with me and stuff, and playing with me. So it meant a lot, 'cause he died eight years ago and I lost his ring the very first day."
The Smiths searched the area, even bringing in metal detectors, but eventually gave up the search.
The ring was thought lost forever until recently, when Jacob Scott, 8, spotted something shiny while swimming in the same spot.
Scott said he thought the object was a Pepsi can, but upon closer inspection it was an old ring.
The boy's mother, Sandra Scott, posted a photo of the object in a Facebook group, where it was seen by someone who had helped the Smiths search for the ring the previous year.
The ring was returned to the Smiths on Sunday, and Jacob Scott was given a $20 reward for his help finding it.
A man with a metal detector recently facilitated a similar reunion in New York state. Craig "Tiny" Bordeaux was using his metal detector earlier this month at Haviland Cove Beach in Glens Falls, when he found a Glen Falls High School ring buried in the sand.
The ring turned out to have been lost one year earlier by its owner, who was reunited with his class memento after a Facebook search for the ring's owner.