San Juan Capistrano : Deputies and Volunteers Seek Missing Man, 71

Sheriff’s deputies and volunteers were searching late Saturday for a 71-year-old man missing since Thursday morning from a San Juan Capistrano retirement residence.

The man, Dreyfus Isaac (Dick) Gardner, apparently wandered away from the Casa San Juan facility near San Juan Creek before breakfast Thursday. His niece, Helen Lowe, said that Gardner was in good physical condition but that he suffered from periods of memory loss and disorientation.

Gardner was described by family members as 5 feet, 11 inches tall and weighing 150 pounds. He is slender, has short gray hair, green eyes and is missing a front tooth. When last seen, he was wearing a blue-plaid Western shirt, Levis and blue and gray Nike tennis shoes. He has an Oregon driver’s license in his wallet. A $1,000 reward for information leading to his return is being offered.

Dale Gray, owner of Casa San Juan, said residents of the 77 apartments must be able to care for themselves, and can “come and go as they please.” Each resident has a key to the front door, Gray said. Gardner’s absence was noticed at breakfast Thursday, and both his family and the Orange County sheriff’s substation were notified by 10 a.m.

Gardner was last seen about 9:15 p.m. Thursday at a service station at Ortega Highway and the San Diego Freeway, according to Lt. Larry Richie of the Sheriff’s Department.

Helen Lowe said that her uncle had lived by himself in Oregon until April. Then he moved in with a granddaughter in Panorama City, near where he worked until his retirement in 1972 from the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power in Northridge. For the month of October, Gardner stayed with his sister in San Juan Capistrano.

A week ago, Lowe said, Gardner moved into Casa San Juan, which is less than a mile from the Lowe residence on Via Madonna.

“We were a little bit concerned about him being there,” Lowe said, “but we were told that the people there looked out for each other.” She said her uncle’s mental condition was probably similar to Alzheimer’s disease, although it had not been diagnosed. Most of the time, Lowe said, “he seemed to be pretty ‘with it,’ ” and she speculated that he might have left Casa San Juan to return to his sister’s house.

Gardner’s daughter, Paula Story, said that her father may be on his way to the San Fernando Valley.

Since Thursday, family members have joined sheriff’s deputies and members of the sheriff’s volunteer search and rescue team in combing both the downtown area and the nearby creek bed. On Saturday, a sheriff’s helicopter joined about 75 searchers.