Catherine Casey’s cellphone rang Friday night as she crossed into Massachusetts on Interstate 93 from New Hampshire, where rescuers had just concluded four days of searching for her husband, who had gone missing while hiking the White Mountains.

On the line was Lieutenant James Kneeland of the New Hampshire Fish and Game Department, and he had news: Casey’s husband, 70-year-old Christopher Staff of Dorchester, had been found alive.

“I said, ‘I love you, Jim,’ ’’ Casey said she told Kneeland.