MARIONVILLE, Mo. – The Marionville community worked together over Labor Day weekend to find a missing woman, according to Aurora-Marionville Police Chief Wes Coatney.

Coatney said he saw flashlights as he drove into Marionville to join his officers in the search and assumed that his officers were using the flashlights to search.

What he found, though, was a group of high schoolers out searching for the woman.

As he drove further into town, he saw a family of four with more flashlights searching. “Even the little one had a flashlight,” he wrote.

He said he saw more flashlights as he drove through town around Central Avenue and Washington Street, all people from the community searching for the missing woman, who had disappeared from her home on Washington Street that afternoon.

“Folks, the area was flooded with people who saw or heard about Mrs. Hubbard and dropped what they were doing and headed out to search. Our fire department guys, our sheriff’s office, and our citizens were determined to find this woman,” Coatney wrote in a post on Facebook.

Coatney described the effort the community put forth as “heroic,” saying, “Marionville, our hats are off to you. We can’t thank you all enough. Each of those flashlights represented a hero to us. Hero is defined as, ‘someone who is admired for having noble qualities.’ We can confirm Marionville had heroes tonight. We are proud of you. Well done, and bless each of you. We feel honored to be a small part of this amazing community.”

The missing 74-year-old woman was found safe and returned home. The Aurora-Marionville Police Department thanked the Marionville Fire Department, Lawrence County Sheriff’s Office and all others who helped in the search.