By By Lydia Grimes
news reporter
The family of a Cantonment, Fla., man is grateful for the help of local law enforcement and residents who found Clyde Rufus Carroll after an all-night search in the snow last week.
Carroll was working with Faith Chapel Funeral Home Saturday when he apparently took a wrong turn on his drive home from a funeral in Faith Chapel’s white van. By 5 p.m., when the elderly man had not returned home, family members called authorities.
Sheriff’s deputies from Escambia, Conecuh and Monroe counties began the search.
The search teams were in the woods until after midnight, and some of the members went home to recover while others kept up the search. About 6 a.m. they were out in force again, Lambert said. A command post was set up and airplanes were brought in to help in the search, along with aviation specialist Freddy Wayne McCall Jr.
Carroll’s decision to stay in the van was wise because of the weather, Lambert said.
Carroll was transported to D.W. McMillan Memorial Hospital.
Carroll’s son, DeWayne Carroll, who works at Cannon’s Carpet in Brewton, said his father remained at Baptist Hospital in Pensacola, Fla., as of Tuesday.