THOMASTON – School bus drivers are called upon to perform many different tasks – keeping an eye on traffic, managing students on the bus and staying alert for the unusual. On most days, the routine doesn’t change, but on Tuesday something struck Thomaston driver Randy Graham as strange.

During his morning route, Graham noticed an elderly man sitting on the side of the road on Walnut Hill in Thomaston. The man was wearing a hoodie, despite temperatures in the teens, and looked confused. Concerned by what he saw, Graham called Thomaston police after he dropped his students off later that morning at Center School.

“I saw an old guy sitting on the side of the road. He looked dazed and confused. I knew he was in some kind of trouble,” said Graham, who worked as a police officer for 26 years before retiring. He has been driving school buses since 2011.

Graham’s instincts proved to be correct. Later Tuesday, police stopped by the All-Star Transportation terminal in Thomaston to thank Graham for his call. The confused old man suffers from dementia, and he had wandered about a half mile from his residence on Walnut Hill. Graham’s call had made it possible for the man to be returned home safely.

Graham downplayed what he did, saying, “Anybody would have done it.”