Warm waves ripple through Perry
By MIKE KILEN • mkilen@dmreg.com • May 12, 2008
Tom Owens and Diana Helmer moved to Perry in December and engaged in an unusual habit. They knew no one but waved at everybody.”I’ve noticed the effects a wave has,” Helmer said. “When you wave it’s like a smile. A smile always changes your mood. You can’t smile and not be changed.”
OK, some might ask, what’s their angle?
Owens, 47, and Helmer, 45, said it’s not a psychological experiment. They aren’t building business contacts or keeping score, although that doesn’t stop a reporter from doing so during one of their twice-daily walks.We just wanted to be nice to people,” Owens said. “Be nice – that’s our secret plot.”Perry is big enough, population 8,700, to lean more toward the rarely waving, impersonal city than the obligatory, wave-happy Iowa town.Yet it seems strange that a friendly wave seems odd.
“Isn’t it interesting that this couple is friendly and people think they are nutty?” Perry Mayor Viivi Shirley said.
Shirley said the couple is for real.
“In my former life, I was a marriage and family counselor,” she said. “I have a high detector for fake. They are utterly charming and very earnest.”While walking toward downtown, the two head down Willis Avenue , the busy street they live on. They begin waving to every driver.Helmer lets loose an enthusiastic parade wave, arm overhead, bending at wrist and elbow. Owens goes overhead with a single swipe, all elbow.The first two car passengers return it.
Owens’ idea was born after the two moved to Perry fromMarshalltown, the hometown they had returned to after living inMissouri,Wisconsin and Washington state.Even
Marshalltown was too big. They realized no one talked to the grocery store cashier.
“We didn’t want to be that way,” Owens said. “Everyone matters. No one is invisible.”The couple could have moved anywhere. Their jobs are portable – writers of nearly 80 children’s books between them – with no kids and two cats. They chose Perry for its smaller size.
Folks humbly apologized about the town and its recent troubles – the popular hotel, museum and gourmet coffee shop all closing.“Some were hanging in for the future, Owens said. “Some were longing for the past. We were happy for now.”“Diana has always been the more friendly and optimistic one. The hope I have has come from her.”What better way to be a friendly newcomer, what better way to battle the modern age’s disconnectedness, than offer a wholesome greeting?
As they talk and wave, responses are mixed.
“Sometimes people stare at their hands,” Owens said. “What just happened to me? Why am I doing this?”
Townsfolk began to notice when the couple missed a walk. It cheered them to see those two waving. People would shout “hellos” as they entered the cafe.One reason they both left journalism many years ago, they said, is because adults wanted to read bad news, children didn’t.But adults, they found, maintain a childlike spirit in a wave.
The walk’s unofficial tally: 45 waves and 21 wave-backs.
“I feel like we are winning,” Owens said.
