Class Ring Returned to Owner Who Lost It on the Beach With Help of Social Media

— -- One lucky Citadel grad, Tyson Cater, is getting his prestigious class ring back after losing it on the beach in Florida thanks to the kindness of a stranger and the power of social media.

Tracey Lock, of Blackpool, England, was vacationing in Lake Wales, Florida, when she happened to stumble upon a large gold ring in the sand on Sunday.

“I saw a glimmer of gold in the soil and investigated,” Lock wrote to the Military College of South Carolina after discovering it was a Citadel ring from the inscription.

“I am currently on vacation in Florida from the U.K.,” she wrote in her initial email to the school. “I have found a college ring that has the name 'Tyson Lee Cater' inscribed on the inside. I wondered if you could help me contact Tyson and return the ring to its rightful owner? Many thanks if you can help.”

After unsuccessful attempts to reach Cater through his school email since he graduated on May 7, 2016, the Citadel turned to its Facebook page in hopes its tight-knit alumni could help track him down.

“Help us connect a 2016 CGC grad with his found ring!,” the school wrote on the Facebook post that has now been shared more than 300 times -- eventually reaching Cater’s brother.

Cater himself was on vacation in Florida when he lost the ring, and is currently spending time with family in Texas.

However, it didn’t take long before the Citadel’s Facebook post reached Rob Hurst, a 1991 Citadel graduate who now lives in Florida. Hurst volunteered to meet up with Lock before she flew home to the U.K. to take the ring off her hands so she didn’t have to worry about shipping it to Texas from overseas.

“He was trying to connect with Tracey at the airport, but they realized he wouldn’t make it before her flight this morning as he is a realtor and was conducting a house closing and could not change it,” Kim Keeler, the Citadel’s director of media relations, told ABC News.

Lock stopped off at Hurst’s office before her flight back to the U.K. today to drop the precious ring off with his colleagues. As soon as Hurst returned, he proudly took a photo of his own Corps Citadel Ring next to Cater's Citadel Graduate College ring before taking it to the post office to ship to Cater.

“He is really surprised his ring is finding his way back to him and was very disappointed when he lost it while vacationing in Florida,” a spokesperson from the Citadel said of their conversation with Cater. “He repeatedly said ‘thank you’ for the efforts made by Tracey and Rob and looks forward to getting his ring back soon.”