In Asheboro NC on Saturday, lightning hit a transformer ans started a fire in a nearby house owned by Arthur Schneider.

Arthur jumped into action as the fire spread.  This is not an easy feat for Arthur because, Arthur Schneider is 90 years old.

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Arthur immediately thought of his wife Rosemary, 89, who has Parkinson’s disease and dementia. She was all the way at the back of the house and cannot walk.

“I had to go back and get her,” Arthur said. “She’s part of me.”

The smoke alarms “were all buzzing” as the power went out and the smoke was thick. This forced Arthur to have to feel his way around as he couldn’t even see “my hand in front of my face,” he said.

Arthur, who grew up in the Bronx, wheeled Rosemary out to the front porch and ran across his yard — which is “the size of a football field ” — to get help from a neighbor, his daughter Bernadette said. He made the dash without his cane, despite his “terrible limp,” she said.

The neighbor helped bring Rosemary off the porch, which isn’t wheelchair accessible, and called 911.

Arthur is humble when talking about what he did, “I don’t know if it’s so incredible. I think anybody else would do the same thing,” he said.

Arthur has taken care of Rosemary, feeding her and cleaning her, since she was put in hospice care a couple years ago. He even insisted on putting her hospital-style bed next to his bed so they can sleep next to each other.

The couple met during World War II after Rosemary wrote to Arthur, who was serving in Guam in the Navy. Six months after they met in person, they got married in October 1946.

Arthur got a job at an IBM plant in Kingston, and the lovebirds had nine children, 20 grandkids and two great-grandchildren.

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He said. “When you live together and you love somebody, you can’t afford to lose it.”