Urbandale man spreads joy with morning waves to commuters
By Olivia Tyler
Click here for updates on this story
URBANDALE, Iowa (KCCI) — Kent Proudfit, a retired resident of Urbandale, has become a beloved figure among morning commuters by waving and offering well wishes at the intersection of 142nd Street and Meredith Drive most weekday mornings.
“They kind of look for me if I’m not catching all four corners, which is hard to do. You got to be like a swivel head,” Proudfit said.
He calls his routine his “walking and waving ministry.”
He lives just a mile down the road. Each morning, he leaves his house around 5:30 a.m. and waves for three hours until the morning rush is over.
“Kind of gives me more of a purpose in life,” Proudfit said.
He’s been taking morning walks for a while and says whenever he’d hear a car, he’d always turn around and wave. That’s when he got his bright idea.
“I’m really doing it for the Lord’s glory,” Proudfit said.
Because of him, those that pass are having better days. “I had a lady pull over here last week and said, hey, keep doing what you’re doing. She says ‘I had a crappy day.’ Then she said, ‘you really make my day and started it off right.’ So that’s really what I want to do,” Proudfit said.
Kids feel the same way. He gets hand-written notes every day from those on their way to school. “I get more out of this than they do, really, when it gets down to it,” he said.
During his off-days, Saturday, Sunday, and Monday, Proudfit said, “I really am anxious to get back into getting out here and waving, trying to make people’s days.”
Proudfit loves it so much, he’s even arranged his set up for the winter. He’ll park at Maplewood Farms across the street from his corner.
“I won’t be walking. I’ll just drive over here and carry my chair over,” Proudfit said, adding that he plans to be bundled up and see if he can gut it out through the cold months.
He wants drivers to know, he’ll be absent starting Thursday through the end of October as he’ll be traveling across the country to visit his grandkids.
Proudfit says not to worry, he’ll be back at the intersection as soon as he gets back to Iowa.
Please note: This content carries a strict local market embargo. If you share the same market as the contributor of this article, you may not use it on any platform.