Most days you’ll find Luigi Quintos behind the wheel of a Willamette Education Service District (WESD) box truck, delivering supplies throughout the Mid-Valley as a courier and member of WESD Employees Association (WESDEA) Chapter 95.

He greets everyone he meets with a smile and a kind word. But it’s what he does after hours that has gained international attention, including a feature in Reader’s Digest and a nomination for the AFT Everyday Heroes Award. Sherwood Chapter 103 special education bus driver Don Dolan is also a finalist for this national honor. You can vote for them by clicking here. 

Quintos dedicates much of his free time to drawing portraits of children and young adults who have passed away, providing his impressive work free of charge to families who request it. His Facebook page, called Priceless Images, is filled with portraits of children gone too soon. He won’t accept payment from families, but donations to his GoFundMe page help cover the cost of supplies and shipping.

Every day Quintos hears heartbreaking stories that remind him to count his blessings. His grandson, Ayden, was born at 27 weeks and wasn’t expected to make it. One of his first drawings was of his new grandson with his son and daughter-in-law. Art was a way to both process what he was going through as his grandson clung to life in a neonatal intensive care unit, and to provide something special to families going through the ultimate loss.

“I was so thankful that my grandson was doing OK and surviving, but I felt how people would maybe feel losing a child,” Quintos said. “By this time we’re really attached to this little boy and if anything happened to him we would all be devastated.”

Since he posted his Facebook page in August 2014, he estimates he has sent out about 600 portraits, and maintains a long waiting list — about 500 as of this writing. He has sent his portraits around the country and the world, including the United Kingdom, Australia, the Philippines, Tanzania and Ireland.

Sometimes, the youngest children he draws never left the hospital, and the only photos of them show them covered in breathing tubes and other medical necessities. He will remove those objects, providing the family with at least one uncompromised image of their beloved child.

As you can imagine, the stories he receives are heart-wrenching.

“I’ll get emails from a parent whose child was perfectly OK one day, they’ll be diagnosed with cancer and six months later they’re gone,” Quintos said. “You’d almost have to not have a soul to not empathize with someone who’s dealing with that. I do these portraits to ease their pain a tiny bit and to know that child is not forgotten.”

Quintos recently had his own brush with mortality when he suffered a heart attack at home. Were it not for his wife finding him, Quintos would not be here today. He was in a coma for 12 days and hospitalized for several weeks. Eventually he returned to work, and he couldn’t be more thankful.

“I love being able to get out on the road (as a courier),” Quintos said. “When it’s 70 degrees out and driving these back country roads, who could ask for more?”

He was nominated for the Everyday Heroes Award by WESDEA Chapter President Diane Gragg.

“Luigi is the most humble person I know. He gives of his time and God-given talent expecting nothing in return, not even praise. We could all learn from Luigi,” Gragg said.

His mantra is a simple one: Relentless positivity.

“When I’m dealing with a customer, I’m always sure to greet them with a smile, no matter what mood I’m in,” Quintos said. “If nothing else I’m alive another day and glad to be working.”

Vote for Luigi Quintos and fellow Everyday Hero Don Dolan by clicking here. You can only vote for one person each time, so click the back button on your browser and vote again (and again!).