When Barbara Betonio reached out to embrace Marianne Durant, Durant told her, “I don’t remember you, but I love you.”
Betonio, Durant and Durant’s daughter, Nancy Frank, all broke into tears.
On the morning of Dec. 27, Betonio, her husband, Richard, and daughter Kylee saved the life of Durant, 89, when they found her lying on a sidewalk in 28-degree weather in Oro Valley. Durant finally had a chance to thank her saviors in person when they visited her Friday.
“If it weren’t for them, I wouldn’t be here,” Durant said.
The family was delivering newspapers near the Desert Springs Gracious Retirement Living community, 30 W. Lambert Lane, where Durant lived, when they found her. Richard Betonio is an independent contractor with the Arizona Daily Star.
Barbara Betonio spotted her first and the three of them acted quickly. They took their jackets off and covered Durant, whose body Barbara Betonio said had no warmth. They also covered her in extra blankets they kept in their vehicle.
But Richard Betonio knew he had to do more. He lay down next to her, cradled her and blew hot air on her face. Barbara called 911.
“It was just scary,” Barbara Betonio said.
The Oro Valley Police Department arrived at the scene at about 5:42 a.m., according to Lt. Kara Riley, a police spokeswoman. Durant was taken to the hospital, where she was treated for hypothermia for five days.
“It was fate,” Richard Betonio said. “It was meant to be.”
The Desert Springs community is usually one of their last stops on their delivery route, he said. But that day, they were running late so they decided to flip the route.
Durant said she does not remember what happened that day. She doesn’t remember leaving the retirement home, falling or being in the ambulance. But she said she knows she would not have survived without the help of the Betonios.
“I think God has been overly generous to me,” she said. “I’m sure that he sent them over there to save me.”
She has fully recovered from the incident and is moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where she can be near her daughters.
Her friends at Desert Springs threw Durant, who they say is a fashionista and a socialite, a goodbye party. She’s leaving next week.
More than two dozen people showed up to wish her well, including Richard, Barbara, Kylee and Haley Betonio. The family stood in the middle of the room as Durant and her friends applauded them.
“They’re heroes,” Frank said.
