Missing senior was found lying at side of a logging road
Willard McKay will spend next few days in hospital
BalFroN Willard McKay was discovered lying on the side of a logging road in a remote wooded area, confused and badly dehydrated almost five days after he had been last seen.
“All he would say was he was glad we found him,” the 80-yearold Balfron resident’s son Mark McKay said Thursday morning.
“He says he slept in the woods,” Mark added. “He looks a lot better than what we expected.”
Willard was driving his Dodge Caravan when he was last seen around 10:30 p.m. Friday night in New Annan.
Mark said his father wasn’t near his vehicle when he was located in Salt Springs, Cumberland County. As of late Thursday afternoon an RCMP spokesman said the van still had not been located.
“Patrols of back roads were conducted by our members with negative results,” Const. Dal Hutchinson said.
Willard was transferred by ambulance to hospital in Amherst where Mark said he’s expected to remain for the next several days because of his dehydrated condition. He had also been without his heart and blood pressure medication and Mark said he hoped his father would be able to provide more information once his condition became more stabilized.
“Not getting many answers,” he said. “So we don’t know how far he travelled on foot.”
But Mark said he knows the van wasn’t stolen because Willard’s keys and other personal items were with him when he was found.
Despite the unanswered questions, however, Mark said his family is just happy that his father was found alive. And he said they were pleasantly overwhelmed with the amount of widespread community support they received from the hundreds of people who turned out to search for Willard, provided food for the searchers or simply provided moral support.
“How good this community was to us, you can’t believe,” he said.