Scott Swanson
An elderly brother and sister, both former Sweet Home residents, were found Friday morning by a hunter after being missing in the Quartzville area for two days.
Howard Partridge, 74, and his sister Janice Partridge, 61, from Albany were found by deer hunters 38 miles from Highway 20 on U.S. Forest Service Road 11, Sheriff Tim Mueller said.
The two were reported missing to the Linn County Sheriff’s Office at 11:35 a.m. on Thursday after they didn’t return from a day trip to view fall leaves. They were last seen on Wednesday at 11 a.m. at Thriftway in Sweet Home, said Linn County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue Coordinator Joe Larsen.
The Partridges’ vehicle became stuck in snow on Wednesday afternoon after they drove up into the hills to look at foliage, Janice Partridge said.
When they reached the snow line, “we didn’t think it was very deep,” she said, but their vehicle, a mid-sized Suzuki SUV, got stuck about 5 p.m.
The two figured the safest thing to do would be to stay in their vehicle and wait for help, since both had physical ailments, Partridge said. “We figured there would be people by, but there weren’t.”
Mueller said the pair had snacks they had purchased before their trip and melted snow for water.
Friday morning, Howard Partridge traveled three miles in his wheelchair toward Quartzville Road and ran into a hunter named “Jim,” who took him back to the Partridge’s vehicle and pulled it out of the snow, Janice Partridge said.
Mueller said the rescuer then notified a Linn County deputy who was in the area searching for the missing pair.
Larsen said the searchers, which included 10 members of the Marion County Special Vehicles Unit and Jeep Patrol, were able to use cell phone records to assist in narrowing the search area by determining which cell phone towers had been used during a 10-minute call made by the Partridges to a relative. Deputies were unable to reach the couple by cell phone, however.
A UH60 Black Hawk helicopter from the Oregon Army National Guard also assisted in the search.
“One of our concerns was that there are so many hunters out right now and no one had spotted them yet,” Larsen said. “We figured they had to be in a fairly inaccessible area.”
Mueller said the original missing persons report did not include any specific location other than east Linn County. Deputies searched the logging roads in the area all Thursday afternoon and night.
“The Sheriff’s Office recommends that when traveling in remote areas to let friends or family know where you are going and when you expect to return in addition to taking food, water and other supplies in case of an emergency,” Mueller said.
Emma Partridge, 18, a niece of the missing pair who was raised largely by Janice Partridge, said she got worried when she tried to call both on Thursday and neither answered. She called Howard’s twin brother Harold, who also lives in Albany, and he told her they had gone to the mountains.
“He said, ‘They haven’t returned?’ I said, ‘No.’ He said, ‘We’re in trouble,’” Emma recalled.
“She said Sheriff’s deputies “put me through an interrogation and it was a waiting game after that.”
She and her sister Laurel Hemphill, said they were greatly “relieved” after meeting with their found family members at the Sweet Home Police station, where a command center had been set up.
“Our family has lessened considerably recently,” Hemphill said. “Out of 10 siblings only five are left. If they were not found, this would have taken us down to three. I don’t think the family could have taken that.”