A Tucson family saved an elderly woman’s life early Sunday after they found her lying on a sidewalk in below-freezing temperatures nearly nude.
Richard Betonio, an independent contractor with the Arizona Daily Star, was delivering newspapers in Oro Valley with his wife, Barbara, and 9-year-old daughter Kylee when they found her.
The woman, who is believed to be in her 90s, was wearing only undergarments, socks and a shower cap in cold weather, Richard Betonio said. It was about 28 degrees outside.
She appeared to have fallen down and was not responsive, he said.
“I could feel that she was really really cold and the ground was sucking her heat,” he said.
It appeared that she had walked about the length of a football field and a half from the Desert Springs Gracious Retirement Living community at 30 W. Lambert Lane, where she is said to be living, he said.
The retirement home declined to comment.
That community is usually one of the last stops in his delivery route, Betonio said. But that day he was running late and decided to deliver there first.
“God was just letting us know,” he said.
Barbara, his wife, noticed the woman first, he said. The family immediately jumped out of the car, took their jackets off and covered her.
While Barbara was calling 911, Kylee, the daughter, went to grab blankets from the vehicle while her dad laid next to the woman and cradled her, he said.
He kept blowing hot air onto her face to keep her warm, he said.
The Oro Valley Police Department responded to the scene at about 5:42 a.m., which the family said was less than 10 minutes after they called, said Lt. Kara Riley, a police spokeswoman.
The elderly woman had a couple of cuts and bruises, Riley said. She was taken to Oro Valley hospital for treatment and was verbally responsive by about 8:10 a.m.
“We’re eternally grateful that these people found her,” she said.
Betonio, who has lived in Tucson for more than three decades and also owns a remodeling company, said he and his family are happy that they had found her and that she would be recovering.
“We did what we had to do,” he said. “We weren’t just going to sit there.”
