An angel in Robert Langford

In this day and age, we don't often hear about anyone stopping to help someone who is hurt and in a lot of pain unless that person is a public servant — but not on a recent Saturday morning.

A man was delivering the News Sentinel at 3 a.m. on a very cold day — low 20s, I think. He heard a voice yelling for help. He wasn't sure at first which apartment it was coming from, so he went door to door to find out where that person was.

He found this person and knocked on her door and told her he was calling for help. This woman of 83 had spent most of the night on her kitchen floor with a broken leg, yelling and crying for help for hours until Robert Langford stopped to help.

He stayed at the apartment until the police and an ambulance came. He made sure she was safe with the police and medical help before going to finish his route.

You see, this woman is my mother, and Robert Langford was her angel who was sent to save my mother's life. She is on the mend now, but all the Gaines family will always owe this man for saving the life of our mother and grandmother.

What do you give an angel and hero for saving a life so precious to us? As the movie said: Pay it forward — from the Gaines family of Oak Ridge, Clinton, Andersonville and Jacksboro.