MILFORD, PA — Commissioners Chair Rich Caridi said he was beginning the meeting on May 22 with a presentation for “a very important person.” That person was Pike County Transportation Department bus driver Antonio Biafora.

Area on Aging Director Robin LaDolce presented the county’s certificate of appreciation to Biafora for his “compassionate response.”

On his February 12 bus run, Biafora was scheduled to pick up Joyce Spinelli at her home off Urban Road in Lackawaxen. When she did not appear as he arrived, Biafora left the vehicle to find out why. Getting no response at the front door, he waded through knee-high snow to the rear deck, where he found Spinelli.

The 81-year-old had gone outside to take out the trash, but after exposure to minus-10-degree temperature, had been unable to climb to the deck to reach the rear door. She had been lying in the snow for 30 minutes when Biafora found her.

Biafora, 77, got her up and into the house, and called her son at work and for emergency help.

“It was lucky that I was there,” Biafora said.

“Lucky for me,” Mrs. Spinelli added quickly. Still undergoing rehabilitation treatment for the frostbite she suffered in her hands, she attended the presentation with her son Robert.

Robert Spinelli said Biafora “went above and beyond,” for his mother. “He’s a hero. We are very grateful.”

His appearance was lucky in that Biafora had reversed his usual route because of the weather, he said. Lucky too, that he knew how to deal with the cold because he hails from the mountains in Calabria, Italy. “I had her rub her hands together,” he said.

LaDolce said the “extraordinary occurrence this winter shows what our drivers do.”

Ray Groll, Pike transportation manager, lauded Biafora. “He’s special. He takes very little time off and he treats everyone on his bus like a relative.”

Caridi agreed, “Our drivers are not machines. They get intimately involved, and they do a lot to help our seniors out. Thank you very much.”