Family and police are desperate to find a missing 75-year-old Dallas man.[[318902751,C]]
Rex Donald Prater was last seen by former co-workers at the Renaissance Cafeteria in downtown Dallas on July 15, according to family.
Police described Prater as white, 5 feet 8 inches tall and 155 pounds with green eyes and white hair. He has high blood pressure.
His sister, Dana Furner, talked to NBC 5 after searching for weeks with no sign of her brother.
“We haven’t given up hope,” said Furner. “He’s very resourceful and I know that people are kind. We are just hoping someone out there has seen something.”
Furner said her brother lives with some special needs, but has always lived alone in an apartment complex near downtown and attended First Baptist Dallas for the last 50 years. He’s never missed a service or bible study.
It was when he didn’t show up for church one day that fellow parishioners contacted his sister.
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“His speech has a different cadence and he repeats things over and over again,” said Furner. “But he is very independent and very intelligent and able to take care of himself and was proud of that – he was very content with his life.”
Family said the 75-year-old never owned a car, but would take the bus daily to downtown to church or area libraries. In the last few weeks, Furner has taken fliers with her brother’s picture to those places to see if anyone recognizes him.
“In speaking with people – what I’m struck by – is how many lives he’s touched and it’s been nice to hear the kind things that have been said other people” said Furner. “Everybody remembers seeing him but they haven’t seen him the last few weeks.”
The family is working with Dallas police to check with area hospitals daily. They worry Prater may have suffered a heat stroke on one of his daily outings or been the victim of a crime.
“We’ve gone from trying to do everything – calling everyone everywhere – to almost settling in to a place where we are just waiting and waiting is so hard.”
Dallas police asks that anyone with information about Prater's disappearance call 911 or 214-671-4268.
NBC 5's Todd L. Davis contributed to this report.
