A Warm Heart

On a frigid February morning in Illinois, trucker Douglas Moen spotted a car parked in a darkened driveway off a field along Highway 64.

Moen made out a figure inside the car and decided to stop and check out the situation.

“I figured it was odd that a car was pulled that far off the road,” Moen said, “My gut feeling was that something was wrong.”

He approached the car and saw a woman inside. Moen called out and aimed the flashlight at his face so the stranded woman could see him approaching. After some hesitation, she unlocked the door. Moen found the woman, who had been stranded for three hours, freezing and very tired.

“She was so cold, her hands, feet, and legs had already turned white with spots. If she hadn’t opened the door, I would have broken a window if I had to,” Moen said.

Moen then proceeded to warm the freezing woman using blankets, a heating pad and his boots. He used milk from his truck’s refrigerator to bathe her feet to get her circulation going, and had her stick her hands in the fuel tank to warm them.

Once he had gotten the woman warmed, Moen went to work repairing her car. He charged the battery and repaired the busted fan belt with a pair of old pantyhose he found in her car.

Moen kept the stranded woman in his truck for about four hours before he felt she was safe enough to drive away.

A 30-year veteran of the road, this is not the first time Moen has been recognized for saving a life on the road. In September 2000, Moen was honored for administering CPR to a man who had experienced a heart attack and run off the road.

For his life-saving actions, Moen received a Highway Angel lapel pin, certificate and patch. The Highway Angel program recognizes hundreds of truck drivers for their unusual kindness and courtesy to others while on the job. Petro Stopping Centers and Volvo Trucks North America are exclusive sponsors of the Highway Angel Program, which was initiated in 1997. The goal of the program is to support driver professionalism and elevate public awareness of the many outstanding drivers in the trucking industry.