Ailing Driver Who Left Wife in Desert Is Found

A 71-year-old man with Alzheimer’s disease was reunited with his family Friday after a five-day odyssey that began when he left his wife in the Utah desert and took off in their motor home.

Harold Morris, resting at his son’s home in Ft. Worth, said in a telephone interview that he was overwhelmed by the attention but was delighted to be back with his wife of 44 years, Peggy.

“I feel fantastic,” Morris said. “I thought she was dead. And here she is, doing a lot better than I am.”

The Morrises, avid rock hunters and jewelry makers who live in Florida, were vacationing in Utah near the Arches and Canyonlands national parks when they parked on a dirt road Sunday and Mrs. Morris went searching for agate.

Mrs. Morris, 63, told her husband that she would be back by dark, but she got lost. She heard her husband honk the horn and walked toward the sound. Then the honking stopped.

Morris said he thought he had waited for three days and that his wife was dead, so he drove off to tell his family. He actually waited several hours.

Mrs. Morris spent the night in the cold and snow but finally found a road Monday that led to a highway. She suffered slight frostbite on her toes.

Mrs. Morris told police she feared for her husband’s safety because he panics under stress, can’t navigate well and does not like to ask for directions. When he does ask, he forgets right away, she said.

Her husband was spotted Friday at a convenience store in Saginaw, about five miles north of Ft. Worth, by someone who had seen news reports of his disappearance.

Mrs. Morris said her husband, a retired Pan Am engine mechanic, was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s two years ago when he got lost on his way home and drove for 30 hours without food or drink. The disease robs its victims of memory and reasoning ability. Doctors told him not to drive any more.