Veteran Getabout Driver Retires

's insiders gathered outside their headquarters on Tuesday afternoon Mar. 22 to honor one of their own.  

Long-time driver Thomas Donavan, a favorite with Getabout clients  is retiring at the end of the month. He and his wife Patricia will be relocating to Burlington, VT, where two of their children and several grandchildren reside. 

The former owner of Tom Donovan Heating and Cooling, started driving for Getabout part-time in 2002 and full-time in 2005 after his retirement from the HVAC business.  

Donavan's desire was to stay active in the community and also give something back to the town he had lived in for more than thirty years. Driving the Getabout vans and helping New Canaan's seniors and other transportation-challenged residents maintain active, vital lives became his mission and passion.

Donavan was described as a person that always went the extra mile for everyone he served.

Paul Stein, Getabout's co-director of operations told About Town, "Tom is liked by every one of his riders. He also was a driver who would volunteer whenever we needed extra help."  

Stein continued, " I would come down in the morning after a heavy snow storm and there would be Tom, with a shovel he brought from home, digging out the vans."

David Munro, Getabout's treasurer and a 40 year town resident,  shared his thoughts about Donavan's dedication. "Tom had five operations — including two knees and two hips and each time he was back five weeks later, driving the Getabout!"

Fellow long-time resident, Phil Ives, added to the story. "His physical therapist asked 'How did you get there? You didn't drive, did you?'  Tom is just a great people person," Ives said.

The Getabout celebrators congregated at the end of the New Canaan Train Station's platform where a small building is home to their dispatch office.

 Donovan's friends and fellow drivers posed for photos, joked and shook hands while enjoying home made cupcakes provided by board member, Beth Reifers,  and ice cream in the chilly air that permeated the second afternoon of spring.

Getabout's fleet of two wheelchair-accessible multi-passenger vans and two mini vans, provides area residents with more than 10,000 individual rides each year to  activities for a flat one-way rate, as well as no-fee, non-emergency rides to area medical and hospital offices.

"I've never met a more conscientious group of people," Donovan said.

"It's been a wonderful experience —- it's been a ball for the last five years!" he said.