Missing wedding ring in Minnesota returned after 25 years

ROCHESTER, MN -- A wedding ring that was lost more than 25 years ago has finally been returned, thanks to a chance encounter.

Linda Matti said the ring slipped off her husband's finger while he was a patient at the Mayo Clinic's Methodist Hospital.

"We looked all over for it, couldn't find it," Matti told ABC affiliate KAAL-TV.

Several years later, the hospital's sewer main was plugged. Dale Grobe was the plumber fixing the clog. He found the ring in the sludge.

Grobe said he turned the ring into lost and found. Six months passed, and nobody claimed the ring so it went to Grobe who gave it to his wife.

"I thought it was nice," Kathie Grobe said. "And, I thought it would be nice to honor whoever's ring it was."

Meanwhile, Linda replaced her husband's lost ring.

"I waited almost 10 years, then on our 25th wedding anniversary I got a new one," Linda told KAAL-TV. "He really didn't wear it much, where his first one he wore every day until the day he lost it."

That's how the story would have ended until a chance encounter two weeks ago. Kathie ran into a man whose parents were named Linda and Laird- the names inscribed on the gold band. The man was Linda and Laird's son.

She asked the man to call his parents and ask when they had gotten married.

"As soon as he turned around and said, '1973' we were thrilled," Kathie said.

Kathie gave the ring to the man to take home to his parents.

"I've thought about them and prayed for them, so it's great to know the ring is home again," Kathie said.

"We're so thankful to Kathie and her husband for finding it, and taking care of it all those years and so effortlessly returning it," Linda said. "That means an awful lot to us."