Faith, hope rewarded
Willard McKay found in wooded area of Cumberland County
Some happy. That’s the consensus sweeping the area since it was learned Tatamagouche senior Willard McKay, missing since Friday night, had been found alive.
A family member said the RCMP informed them around 5 p.m. Wednesday that McKay, 80, was found in the Springhill area. After initially being treated by EHS paramedics, McKay was transferred to hospital at Cumberland Regional Health Care Centre in Amherst.
“Everybody was some happy when they heard, I tell you,” said Doug Tattrie, common-law husband to McKay’s daughter Kathy.
Tattrie said McKay was found badly dehydrated and disoriented.
RCMP Const. Dal Hutchinson said the Oxford and Springhill detachments responded to a 911 call at approximately 4:30 p.m. Wednesday of a motorist having located Mr. McKay in his van on a wood’s road in the community of Saltsprings, Cumberland County.
“Mr. McKay was reported as being alert,” he said.
Kaleigh Myles, a bartender at Ocean Lanes Bowling Sports Bar in Tatamagouche, where McKay regularly provided rides home for drinking patrons, said the news of him being located was met with pleasant surprise and relief.
“We’re glad that all is well,” she said.
Hutchinson said McKay’s family and the RCMP wish to extend their gratitude and appreciation to the hundreds of people who helped out with the search over the past few days.
McKay was last reported seen in the driveway of a residence in the New Annan area around 10:30 p.m. Friday. He had been without heart and blood-pressure medication for a week and earlier Wednesday Kathy McKay had expressed serious concerns about his health.
“My fears are that he’s off the road someplace, laying all by himself. It’s been so hot the last few days. He can’t go without water or food,” she said.
Kathy McKay said the people who last spoke with her father on Friday said he seemed “a little off, a little mixed up, confused.” Volunteers from the Tatamagouche community and beyond were involved in a massive search effort to find McKay. From left, Judy Perrin, Alison Hayman and Kim Wall look over a map of the area at search headquarters Wednesday, set up at Balfron Community Hall.