Mary Kay and I knew Billy through John and Stacey Lanzillotta and because of his generosity. While Billy did not know us directly, he brought us the biggest backhoe that I have ever seen so that we could dig a utility trench between our garage and house. With my limited large equipment skills and the backhoe’s size, using it in the tight space between house and garage looked a bit like a Bart Simpson Skit. Nevertheless, with Billy’s backhoe we got the job done.
Billy came early on a Sunday morning after we completed the ditch to take the backhoe away. When he was backing the backhoe on to the trailer behind a huge stake body truck, the brakes on the truck decided to let go and the truck with Billy and backhoe facing backwards on the trailer took off down our street. A street which had cars parked on both sides. Billy tried to stop the truck by dropping the backhoe blade onto the street – to no avail. While sipping coffee and watching the event unfold, it took a moment for my brain to register, “oh my, this could be bad”.
I ran around the back of the trailer, caught up with the truck, opened the driver door, vaulted into the seat, and was able to stop the truck before it got to the next intersection. Thanks to Billy’s generosity, we not only got the project done, but were able to have an Indiana Jones adventure that will always be in our memory as will Billy
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