Djeneba Dosso
LOCAL JOURNALISM INITIATIVE
ALLEYN-ET-CAWOOD – Nearly 400 people mobilized in what the Low Fire Department has called the biggest deployment in recent history, to look for Grace Early who went missing in the woods. Early was found alive, Saturday, November 23, after spending over 36 hours in the elements. A Facebook post from her daughter, Maggie Early-Holmes, sparked the search efforts.
Early, a mother of seven daughters, left home Thursday evening in search of her husband David who was building a new road on their wooded farm property. The family began to worry when she did not return Friday morning.
“It’s like her to go to the neighbours and have a couple of drinks. She doesn’t drive back after that,” Maggie said. “When she didn’t come home, we called around and began the search.”
The Low Fire Department, Sûreté du Québec (SQ) and Maggie spent Friday night looking for Grace. In accordance with procedure at that time, no civilian except Maggie was allowed to join efforts. When the search came to no avail, Maggie and her father decided to call for help online.
“We deployed a crew right away to assist with the search,” explained Low Deputy Fire Chief, Ghyslain Robert. “As the day progressed, we sent out more manpower and remained in search mode until about 11:30 Friday night when the SQ asked us to stop searching when the scent dog got there.” When he returned in the morning, Robert said he was met with a search crowd he hasn’t seen in the Pontiac in over 20 years.
SQ officers, canine units, helicopters, drones, fire departments from Otter Lake, Shawville and Bryson, Denholm, Kazabazua, the City of Ottawa Police and off-duty RCMP officers all came to the rescue. Some volunteers and family members drove over eight hours to search.
Grace got stuck driving down the unfinished road in her pickup truck, which was only accessible by ATV, unbeknownst to her. “She couldn’t get out, so she decided to walk back to the house, but it was dark … [and she got lost],” explained Maggie.
Grace decided to sit and wait for help, convinced her family would come to her rescue. Her gut feeling was spot on. “We all had the same feeling that she wasn’t dead, just missing and waiting for us to find her,” said Maggie.
After she was found, the Outaouais Search and Rescue Team carried Grace out of the bush with the help of her grandsons and into an ambulance. She was admitted to the Shawville Hospital where she was treated for pneumonia, a cough and dehydration. She was discharged on November 27 and is now recovering at home.
“The screaming, yelling, cheering and applause from the crowd when they learned she was found was like a shock wave. You could feel it,” said Maggie.
The Early family has expressed their immense gratitude to everyone who participated in the search or offered help in other ways.
“Telling my mom the little snippets from what I remember, she breaks down and cries again and again. The poor woman is dehydrated just from crying!” concluded Maggie.
Photo – Close to 400 community members gathered to search for Grace Early, Saturday, November 23. (Melanie Irwin)