Most people would help a fallen man on his feet and then go their separate ways, says Ruth Reynolds, a resident at Woodlands at Forbes Lake retirement community.

But not Cliff Smart.

On a recent Sunday evening, the 36-year-old Costco supervisor came into the Woodlands’ lobby with Marvin Starkebaum, 88, whose cheek was bandaged. The senior, who walks through the Woodlands parking lot to Costco nearly every day, had fallen in the parking lot near Costco.

“I’m still impressed with what that young man did,” Reynolds said of Smart. “This young man was very good to just stay with Marvin until somebody came.”

Smart, who has worked at the Kirkland Costco for 15 years, knows Starkebaum as “Marv.”

He says the older man comes to Costco almost daily and sits in the Optical Department to “hang out and people watch.”

On that particular Sunday, Smart noticed one of his employees helping Starkebaum to his feet after he fell on a patch of moss outside. The worker brought him into the Optical Department, where Smart bandaged the senior’s bloodied face and made sure he didn’t need further medical attention.

A Costco optical technician even fixed Starkebaum’s glasses that were bent from the fall.

Smart could have let the man walk home on his own, but he accompanied Starkebaum back to Woodlands and waited with him until Reynolds, a registered nurse, took over.

“That’s what we do here. I would do that for anybody,” said Smart. “But this is Marv, he comes down here every day so we took a little extra care getting him home safely.”

Starkebaum said he is thankful for Smart’s generous help.

“He’s a really good boy – very good,” the man said of Smart.

Reynolds says she was so amazed by Smart that she called a Costco manager.

“Nobody calls to tell the nice things anymore,” she said.

Now, Woodlands is abuzz with the incident and many residents have even referred to Smart as a hero.

Fellow resident Myrtle Williamson said, “It was so wonderful when we heard about how this nice young man took care of Marvin. We all were so happy that this young man took time to clean him up.”