The stubborn bucket truck just wouldn't cooperate.
Only a day earlier, a Lewis Tree Service crew had easily maneuvered the vehicle into position along a rural road in the Watts Passage area of Albemarle County, where they trimmed trees along Rappahannock Electric Cooperative's (REC) power lines.
But less than 24 hours later, on Dec. 13, the guys just couldn't get the massive vehicle safely into the same position.
And, oh, did they try! Once, twice — even a third time — they attempted unsuccessfully to park the truck exactly where they had done so the previous day without issue. So, they decided to reposition the vehicle in a different spot.
Along with the crew's quick action, compassion and care, that might have saved a woman's life.
"I don't know if it was God," said Crew Leader Dagoberto Jacome. "But there was some kind of miracle in that moment."
After moving the vehicle, the crew quickly spotted an elderly woman lying in the brush several feet off the road. She couldn't speak, wore no shoes and was unable to walk.
She had no coat and was shivering in the mid-December cold.
Without hesitation, Jacome and his crew carried the woman to their work truck, gently buckled her into the back seat and blasted the heat to warm the woman until they could get additional assistance.
That extra help first came in the form of REC member Christy Grimes, who was driving her Honda HRV to the UPS store to mail some Christmas presents when the Lewis Tree crew waved her down.
Grimes called for help and knocked on the doors of neighbors, one of whom recognized the woman as a nearby resident. Grimes then worked with the Lewis Tree crew to safely return the woman to her home. (The elderly woman's grown children were contacted and quickly returned from their homes in New York to care for her.)
"I do think there's no coincidence that the woman was found by someone with that bucket truck," Grimes said. "They were in the right place at the right time. It just shows that good things do happen."
Of the Lewis Tree crew, she said: "They just seemed so caring and loving and really did the right thing. I do think that crew likely saved her life."
Their efforts did not startle Cindy Musick, Senior Director of Vegetation Management Services at the Cooperative.
"What it says to me is they embody REC, and they are really an extension of who we are," Musick said. "They work on our system year-round in all kinds of weather, and I'm not surprised by any means. It just was a situation where they knew exactly what to do to rise to the occasion."
As for Crew Leader Jacome, he has little doubt what led them to that brush.
In recent years, he has returned home to Honduras each December. This year, he opted to stay in Virginia, another fateful occurrence that made him available to lead the rescue efforts.
"There is not another answer," he said, pausing to reflect.
"That was God giving us the opportunity to save her life and be good human beings."
