93-year-old Louise Edlen has been waving to this school bus full of lively children for the last 5 years from her little dining room window.
She doesn’t know their names, but she knows their faces. Each morning she waits for their smiles, and she eagerly anticipates their waves back in her direction.
They also don’t know Louise, but according to these students, she’s “part of the family.”
The morning wave has truly become the Arlington school bus No.7’s tradition, so much so, that the kids panicked when they drove by one morning and didn’t see “grandma in the window.”
The bus driver, Carol Mitzelfeld, discovered that Louise had a stroke, and she passed the tragic news onto her students who were seriously worried about their window-waving friend.
One 7th grader, Axtin Bandewerfhorst, told KING 5 News, “Carol was telling us that a lot of times she doesn’t remember her daughter’s name, but she always remembers to wave to the kids on the bus. That made me feel really special.”
Along with the help of Carol, the students decided to surprise Louise in the hospital with flowers.
Louise was overwhelmed with the heartwarming gesture from the kids she barely knew.
Because she couldn’t be there to greet them the next morning, she put up this sign instead.
“That made me really smile,” said 10th grader, Cheyanne Holt. “It shows how much we mean to her.”