Members of the Bonney Lake Senior Center always have certain things they can depend on, whether it is lunch every weekday, Bingo on Wednesdays or blood pressure checks at least once a month.

They’ve also found that there is a person they can depend on to go above and beyond the call of duty: Senior Aide Phil DeLeo.

DeLeo, 64, is a former Bonney Lake city councilman, an active Kiwanis member and a board member for the city’s community theater; he’s a squat, jovial man who operates the center’s shuttle bus four times a week. The bus is his domain, decorated by stuffed animals and tchotchke keepsakes from group trips. A rubber chicken dubbed Henrietta has taken on such a life of its own that one senior knits it clothes for every season (it’s currently wearing a bikini).

“He’s like a mother hen with the seniors who ride on his bus,” center member Leota Musgrave said. “When he picks up his regulars, he goes to their door, takes them by the arm to the bus, then he gets their mail and takes their garbage to the curb. He’s such a caring person. The first time I rode the bus with him as driver, I made the mistake of trying it alone when came and picked me up. I started down my walkway and he took me by the arm and said ‘Now Leota, I told you I would help you.’

“The women think the world of him and the men like him too.”

Phil DeLeo didn’t initially intend to take a career turn into senior services.

DeLeo, 64, was an industrial analyst and computer systems trainer at Boeing, where he worked for 23 years. In 2004, talks of downsizing circulated throughout the company and the final word was that DeLeo would be fired and immediately rehired under contract, losing the benefits he had earned through the years.

Instead, he took a layoff and pursued a lead at the Pacific-Algona Senior Center. He worked briefly as a cook before becoming the bus driver and trip planner.

“He is still talked about and he is still missed,” said Gloria Avarill, a Pacific-Algona senior center member. “He was a great guy from the very beginning. He came on at a time when there was a lack of funds for the center from an overspent budget and he helped stabilize it.

“Some of the things he did went beyond his job description. We had a lady who was more or less a shut-in who loved oysters. And he would bring oysters back from the coast so that she would always have some. We had another man who was a former judge with some dementia. Phil planned the center trips around that man’s schedule so that he would always be available to go and feel involved.”

DeLeo transferred to the Bonney Lake Senior Center in 2008, where he again took a position as a bus driver and trip planner.

He also uses his skills with a toolset to make life for seniors and the senior center easier. He heads a Kiwanis home repair project for senior citizens who need help keeping their domiciles in good working order. He’s also known for keeping the Bonney Lake Senior Center’s bus and building in good repair.

“Recently we had a lot of donated equipment for people with disabilities, and without him we wouldn’t have been able to fit it in our storage area,” said Lara Wheeler, the center’s cook.

Senior Center Director Sue Hilberg said DeLeo is often scattered, but never overwhelmed by his many responsibilities.

Most importantly, he never seems to let the work affect how he treats others.

“He’s always very calm and very mild-mannered,” Wheeler said. “I’ve never seen Phil lose his temper, he never talks down to you or condescends.”

“He’s got a good sense of humor,” Senior Aide Janis Smith said. “He’s always making people laugh.

“He’s a genuinely nice, amazing person.”