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Thursday, January 6,1983Daily Republlcan-Register, Mt. Carmel, IllinoisPage NinefarmBy J.L. Schmidt Associated Press Writer CARMAN, 111. (AP) - It took them nine days, and they went about 4,000 miles out of their way, but an elderly farm couple has returned to their Western Illinois home following a Christmas visit with relatives 40 miles away.They were located unharmed late Tuesday, but they were still 150 miles from home, apparently still .confused, disoriented, and .wondering what all the fuss was about.Their odyssey took them across the heart ,of Illinoisand, they say, as far north as Chicago and as far south as the state’s lower tip across from Paducah, Ky. — and maybe into Kentucky, Indiana and Missouri.Russell Grafton, 77, and his wife Ruby, 74, were the object of a statewide search after worried relatives reported them missing on Monday. The family's efforts to locate the couple through the powers of a water dowser failed.After news reports of the missing couple brought reports of sightings, the couple turned up Tuesday night ata motel in Alton, about 150 miles south of their tatne near the Mississippi River.State Police Capt. Noel Oliver said Grafton and his wife “seemed confused about all the fuss, but they agreed to wait for relatives.”“It may sound crazy,” said a nephew, Melvin Grafton of Oquawka, “but we checked the odometer in the truck and it appears they drove some 4,000 miles.“We found hand-drawn maps which indicated they were in Missouri and possibly Indiana,” he added.The couple apparently ate some meals in their Ford Bronco, but stayed in motels several nights.The travels began Christmas Day, when the Graftons traveled 40 miles south to Augusta to visit friends. They evidently forgot a present, drove home to get it and returned to Augusta. Two days later, they left Augusta and “began doing a number of things that were totally out of character for them,” said the younger Grafton.That evening, after dark,unharmedthey were seen in Stronghurst, a small town about five miles east of Carman.“They had a routine, and they were always home before dark,” said Melvin Grafton, whose uncle has farmed 1,500 acres in Henderson County for more than 4#fears.The next day, they were spotted near Rushville and Camden, two towns about 60 miles south of Carman. “Camden is where he grew up. He apparently asked somebody there for directions home, but then we lost track of them for several days,” thenephew said.The next report came from state police who saw the couple in Casey — about 150 miles east of Rushville near the Indiana border in eastern Illinois — on Dec. 29. A state trooper told Oliver the couple seemed “disoriented and confused,” but he was not aware that they were missing persons.“They were just obviously wandering about the countryside,” the nephew said. “Tyidn’t have any landmarks they recognized. They’ve pretty much stayed close to home in the past.”“She (Ruby) said they were in Paducah, Ky., and Chicago during the trip. But we may just never know,” he said.After news reports of the missing couple, the public reported sightings that put the Graftons on the return leg of their trip, with stops in Beecher City, about 40 miles west of Casey; Vandalia, another 25 miles southwest; and, on Monday, in White Hall, about 90 miles west.They asked a service station attendant for directions inWhitehall, but Tuesday they headed southeast — again away from home — and were sighted in Gillespie, about 40 miles from White Hall, before turning southwest again toward Alton, where state police finally caught up with them.“We’ve noticed a loss of memory in the past year, but Uncle Russell has always been independent, and would never admit to having a problem. He’ll probably never admit that they were lost either,” Melvin Grafton said.
Newspaper Details
Mount Carmel Daily Republican Register
Mount Carmel, Illinois, US
Thu, Jan 06, 1983
Page 16
Full Page
Clipped by
Ron C.
IL, USA 15 Mar 2019
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