‘Grandma In The Window’ Waves To Bus Daily For Five Years — Until One Day, She’s Missing

The kids who ride Carol Mitzelfeldt’s No. 7 bus in Arlington, Washington, have learned an important lesson from a kindly grandma who waits in her dining room window every day and waves as they pass by.

“Always treat people with kindness, and always treat people with compassion,” Mitzelfeldt told the Huffington Post.

The school kids learned that lesson from Louise Edlen, 93, the so-called grandma in the window, whose faithful daily waves have been part of the teens’ day for five years, KING 5 added. Every time she waves, each kid waves back, and she has not only become a fixture in their young lives but part of the family.

But one day in September, the grandma wasn’t there. A couple more days passed with an empty window.

“It was kind of heartbreaking because she was always there,” noted Axtin Bandewerfhorst, a seventh grader. “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.”

Adorable 'grandma in the window' waves to kids on bus every morning: https://t.co/tIX3KaL0pl pic.twitter.com/MgEpXnwrP4

— AOL.com (@AOL) October 28, 2015

So she went to check on her one day, flowers in hand with a note attached that read, “To the grandma in the window, we’re thinking of you. Love, the kids on bus 7 and bus driver, Carol.”

Even though the students had grown accustomed to Louise’s window waves, they hadn’t learned her name. But that was about to change, and what these young people did next will bring tears to your eyes.

Carol learned the real name of the grandma in the window and that she had had a stroke a few days before; that’s why she was missing from her usual post by the window. Dave, Louise’s husband, relayed the information while caring for her at a local rehab center over the following three weeks.

“She’s a very special lady,” he said.

The couple have been married for 53 years and have 30 grandchildren and 23 great-grandchildren.

The day after Carol delivered the flowers, a sign was waiting in the grandma’s usual window, reading simply “Thank you.”

“That made me really smile,” said 10th grader Cheyanne Holt. “It shows how much we mean to her.”

Carol told them that their special grandma hadn’t been to the window for her usual waves because she was sick, and they instantly decided to do something special for her.

“The kids and I said too bad she can’t have something to look at when she can’t be at the window,” Mitzelfeldt said. “So we decided to take a picture.”

The students lined up in their bus and craning out of the windows, gave Louise one great, big wave. Mitzelfeldt had the picture blown up and printed on foam board, signed it, and delivered it to the grandma in the window right in the rehab center.

“This is from the kids,” she told the grandma. “They miss you and want you to get better.”

Because the stroke had partially paralyzed her throat, Elden found it hard to speak, but she managed to tell her, “I miss them, too. I’m trying to get better.”

Husband Dave said that her simple, kind waves in the dining room window to the passing school bus mean “everything in the world to her. It gives her something to look forward to every day.”

She got home on Tuesday, and the students were there waiting for her along with their bus driver. They’d propped a colorful sign in the windows, welcoming the grandma back with cheers and honking horns. Louise plans to return to her post and start her daily waves back up again.

The grandma in the window has given these young students an important lesson, Mitzelfeldt said, which will carry them through life. She reminded them that Louise “could be your grandma or grandpa — or even you someday.”

[Images via Arlington Public Schools Facebook]