THEY SAY THE SEA GIVES AND THE SEA TAKES AWAY. THIS SUMMER, EIGHT YEAR OLD MIRIAM SCHMIDT FOUND THE MEDITERRANEAN IS A GIVER. SHE SAW SOMETHING. SHINY IN THE WATER AND SHE DOVE DOWN AND PICKED UP A GOLD RING. THAT’S HER DAD, MARTIN. THEY WERE ON VACATION FROM GERMANY IN GREECE, AND HE KNEW JUST HOW TO HANDLE THAT. LOOK WHAT I FOUND. JOY. WE TOLD HER, STOP YELLING. BECAUSE WHEN WHEN WE. WHEN WE HOLD UP A GOLDEN RING AND SAY, WHO’S LOST THIS RING? EVERYONE SHOUTS YES! HERE, RIGHT? HERE’S WHERE IT GETS GOOD. MARTIN SNAPS A PIC AND TURNS. DETECTIVE. WE LOOKED UP THE PICTURE WITH GOOGLE. GOOGLE PICTURE SEARCH AND WE QUICKLY FOUND OUT THAT IT IS CONNECTED TO THE TO THE NOTRE DAME PREP SCHOOL ENTERS 2020 NDP GRAD RENE STAMOS. ALL MY HIGH SCHOOL FRIENDS STILL WEAR THE RING TO THIS DAY. ALL OF THEM EXCEPT HER. SHE LOST HERS A YEAR AGO ON A BEACH. AND WHERE ELSE BUT GREECE? MY LITTLE SISTER, SHE SHE DROVE BACK UP TO THE BEACH. WENT, WENT UNDERWATER, WAS LOOKING FOR THE RING THAT DAY. AT THE BEACH. MAYBE IT’S AT THE HOUSE. TURNS OUT A YEAR LATER, MIRIAM HAD THAT MIDAS TOUCH, SOON EMAILING NDP COMPLETE SHOCK THAT THEY THAT THEY CALLED ME. AND THEN THEY WERE LIKE, HEY, SOMEBODY FROM GERMANY HAS YOUR RING LIKE A FAMILY. SHE’S A LITTLE GIRL AND SHE REALLY WANTS TO RETURN THE RING TO YOU. I WAS SITTING AT HOME WITH MY WITH MY KIDS AND ON LUNCH, AND WE GOT A CALL AND IT WAS RENEE AND HER MOTHER, AND THEY WERE SO HAPPY THAT THE RING THAT WE RETURNED, THE RING THAT THE RING RETURNED, THEY TOLD US THAT. THAT THEY PRAYED FOR THE RING, THAT THEY WERE IN, THAT THEY WERE ON IN A MONASTERY PRAYING FOR THE RING, THAT IT MAY RETURN. AND THE CRAZY THING IS THAT WE WERE ON THIS IN THIS MONASTERY TWO DAYS BEFORE MY DAUGHTER FOUND THIS RING. SO THIS IS REALLY CRAZY. JUST HOW HOW GRATEFUL ARE YOU TO GET TO THIS POINT AND STILL AND HAVE THIS RING BE PART OF YOUR LIFE? YEAH, I’M SO GRATEFUL. BUT I’M ALSO JUST NOT EVEN JUST THE RING, BUT THE GESTURE OF RETURNING IT. THEY DIDN’T WANT ANYTHING IN RETURN. THEY JUST THEY WANTED TO RETURN IT BACK TO ME. AND AND THAT THAT MEANT EVERYTHING. WHAT? JUST WANTED TO DO THE RIGHT THING AND SHOW OUR KIDS WHAT TO DO.
News We Love: German family returns lost ring found in Greece to Maryland grad
Lost (and found) treasure
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Updated: 3:01 PM CDT Sep 20, 2025
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The sea gives and the sea takes away. For 8-year-old Miriam Schmidt, the Mediterranean Sea is a giver."She saw something shiny in the water and she dove down and picked up a gold ring," said Martin Schmidt, Miriam Schmidt's dad.The family was on vacation in Greece from Germany, and he knew just how to handle that "look what I found," joy."We told her to stop yelling, because when we hold up a gold ring and say, 'Who lost this ring?' Everybody shouts, 'Yes, here,'" Martin Schmidt said.Martin Schmidt took a picture and turned into a detective, helping solve a mystery that took more than a year and spanned an entire ocean."We looked up the picture with Google's picture search, and we quickly found out that it is connected to the Notre Dame Prep School," Martin Schmidt said.That's where Renae Stamas, a 2020 Notre Dame Preparatory School graduate from Maryland, comes in."All my friends still wear the ring to this day," Stamas said.Well, all of them except for her. Stamas lost her ring a year ago in Greece."My little sister, she drove back up to the beach, went underwater, was looking for the ring that day because it was at the beach, maybe it was at the house," said Stamas.As it turns out, Miriam Schmidt had the Midas touch."Complete shock that they called me, and then they were like, 'Hey, somebody from Germany has your ring, like a family. She's a little girl, and she really wants to return the ring to you,'" Stamas said."I was sitting at home with my kids on lunch, and we got a call, and it was Renae and her mother," Martin Schmidt said. "They were so happy that the ring was returned. They told us that they prayed for the ring, that they were in a monastery praying for the ring, that it might return. And the crazy thing is that we were in this monastery two days before my daughter found this ring. So this is really crazy."Stamas is grateful not only to have the ring, but also for the gesture to return it."They didn't want anything in return. They just wanted to return it back to me, and that meant everything," Stamas said. "We just wanted to do the right thing and show our kids what to do," Martin Schmidt said.
The sea gives and the sea takes away. For 8-year-old Miriam Schmidt, the Mediterranean Sea is a giver.
"She saw something shiny in the water and she dove down and picked up a gold ring," said Martin Schmidt, Miriam Schmidt's dad.
The family was on vacation in Greece from Germany, and he knew just how to handle that "look what I found," joy.
"We told her to stop yelling, because when we hold up a gold ring and say, 'Who lost this ring?' Everybody shouts, 'Yes, here,'" Martin Schmidt said.
Martin Schmidt took a picture and turned into a detective, helping solve a mystery that took more than a year and spanned an entire ocean.
"We looked up the picture with Google's picture search, and we quickly found out that it is connected to the Notre Dame Prep School," Martin Schmidt said.
That's where Renae Stamas, a 2020 Notre Dame Preparatory School graduate from Maryland, comes in.
"All my friends still wear the ring to this day," Stamas said.
Well, all of them except for her. Stamas lost her ring a year ago in Greece.
"My little sister, she drove back up to the beach, went underwater, was looking for the ring that day because it was at the beach, maybe it was at the house," said Stamas.
As it turns out, Miriam Schmidt had the Midas touch.
"Complete shock that they called me, and then they were like, 'Hey, somebody from Germany has your ring, like a family. She's a little girl, and she really wants to return the ring to you,'" Stamas said.
"I was sitting at home with my kids on lunch, and we got a call, and it was Renae and her mother," Martin Schmidt said. "They were so happy that the ring was returned. They told us that they prayed for the ring, that they were in a monastery praying for the ring, that it might return. And the crazy thing is that we were in this monastery two days before my daughter found this ring. So this is really crazy."
Stamas is grateful not only to have the ring, but also for the gesture to return it.
"They didn't want anything in return. They just wanted to return it back to me, and that meant everything," Stamas said.
"We just wanted to do the right thing and show our kids what to do," Martin Schmidt said.
