COEUR d'ALENE - His timing that night in early June 2011 was perfect. It had to be.

Ryan Blaver - a Post Falls resident, North Idaho College student and FedEx Express courier - was sitting down to dinner with his fiancee, Kristi, and her grandmother at the Chili's Restaurant in Coeur d'Alene.

Blaver, 26, had just completed a certified nursing assistant class, a prerequisite for a nursing program. He also just completed CPR certification for a second time.

He has long been interested in the medical field, and taken a number of classes in that direction.

"I've kind of bounced around from wanting to be a paramedic to wanting to be a nurse," Blaver said.

He met Kristi, now his wife, and her grandmother at the restaurant.

"She had some family in town, and we just went to go eat dinner after I got done with class, kind of celebrate that I got done," Blaver said. "And we literally just sat down."

Then this lady, right behind him, started screaming in panic for help.

"His face was in his meal," Blaver said of the elderly man at the woman's table. "He was in a wheelchair, and I pulled him back."

With all of Blaver's training fresh in his mind, he jumped up to help.

He asked the woman what was wrong, but she could only plead for help.

"He had no pulse, wasn't breathing, nothing," Blaver said. "He turned blue. He was pretty much lifeless."

Blaver started doing the Heimlich maneuver with the man in his wheelchair, but he wasn't getting the leverage he needed to dislodge the food.

"Nothing was happening," Blaver said.

After working on him for a while, a manager at the restaurant ran over and helped Blaver get the man up and out of the wheelchair. Employees at the restaurant were calling 911.

As soon as they had him upright and began pulling a fist into his belly again, a glob of chewed-up corn and other food broke loose.

"We were getting ready to start performing CPR," Blaver said.

He helped direct the paramedics when they arrived. Blaver never talked with the man or the woman, or heard their names.

"After they loaded him up, he was gone," Blaver said. "I just went back to eating dinner. I was just happy he was OK."

The manager of the restaurant bought dinner for Blaver and his fiancee and her grandmother.

Fast forward to this month.

Blaver is being flown to Memphis, Tenn., on Tuesday, and will be honored the following night with the 2012 FedEx Express Humanitarian Award.

His hotel, airfare, food and transportation in Memphis is being paid for by the company.

"For me it's more of a humbling experience," Blaver said. "Because there are people that do it every day of their life - save people. They don't get any recognition. It's just an everyday job to them."

He has ridden along with paramedics as part of his training, while at a community college in Reno, Nev., where he started his education.

His wife will be traveling with him to Memphis.

"She has told everybody on her side of the family," Blaver said.

On Oct. 3, Blaver received a letter of congratulations from the president and CEO for FedEx Express, and the executive vice president and chief operating officer.

"This demonstration of your concern for others merits the FedEx Express Humanitarian Award," they wrote in the letter.

It's an international company, and the Humanitarian Award is one of the company's two top awards, and its highest non-service award.

"He's always helpful," said Rick Hofman, operations manager at FedEx's Coeur d'Alene station. "Whenever we hire new people he's always helping them. He's an encouraging guy."

It's no surprise Blaver sprung into action, he said.

Hofman uses words like "trustworthy" and "rock-solid" to describe Blaver.

"He's got some serious energy," Hofman said. "He can definitely keep the pace all day long."

In the FedEx world, the Humanitarian award is huge, said Hofman.

"It's like the Oscars or something," he said.