The son of missing elderly couple Lyle and Marie McCann, who vanished more than a year ago during a camping trip, says the entire family have now accepted that they have died.

"We have come to accept that they have met some awful and terrible fate," said Bret McCann.

"We are holding (a memorial) service to recognize that, and try to bring closure to our family."

The family have placed an obituary in a St. Albert community newspaper and the son says efforts are being made to hold a service at the St. Albert Catholic Church for Saturday at 11 a.m.

Bret says the entire service will be open to the public because of "how supportive the entire community has been" in helping out with the search for his parents.

Saturday's memorial service will bring the family some much-needed closure, but the search to find Lyle and Marie is still far from over, said Bret.

"We are not giving up in searching for them," he added. "We are still trying to find answers in what happened to them."

Lyle, 78, and Marie McCann, 72, left their home in St. Albert on July 3, 2010, when they were last seen fuelling up their motorhome there.

The seniors were travelling to Chilliwack, B.C., for a vacation and were scheduled to meet their daughter in nearby Abbotsford, but they never reached their destination.

Two days later, their RV was found in flames near Minnow Lake campground, 20 km east of Edson. The SUV they were towing was soon discovered near Carrot Creek, 30 km east of Edson.

The son says the family still continues to meet with Mounties at least once a month. Mounties say they have 15 full-time investigators handling the case.

"I think there were multiple people involved (in their disappearance)," said Bret.

"I don't know how the police are investigating this, but we do know this investigation does involve this drug culture that's out there."

Efforts to find the McCanns have been extensive.

Close to 700 exhibits have been collected, along with hundreds of tips from the public, and more than 37 searches have been conducted, with more to come.

The most recent search took place last weekend in an area west of Lodgepole. That search, however, didn't result in any evidence being located, say Mounties.

A reward of $60,000 remains for any information leading to the whereabouts of the McCanns. The family continues to maintain a website for tips and information about the couple, and a Facebook group dedicated to finding the McCanns has more than 40,000 members.

A putative suspect, Travis Vader, was arrested but no charges were ever laid. He remains in custody on other matters and continues to be considered a suspect in the case.

Meanwhile, the family is collecting donations for the Search and Rescue Foundation of Alberta in lieu of flowers at the service.