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Weston Withers stands on Dec. 22 in the bus that his late nephew Merle Coldwell was building before his death.
Merle Coldwell wanted to show his sweetheart the wonders of America last summer before she went blind – a grand gesture for a man of limited financial means and a weak heart.
Coldwell didn’t let those obstacles get in the way: He bought an old, yellow school bus, named it Gracie, and went to work in two metered parking spots outside the Dresden Apartments along North Monroe Street in Spokane. He painted it white and red, like a Valentine. Coldwell raised the roof and covered the sides with cedar shingles.
Every weld, every nail was guided by his singular purpose: to get on the road by summer with Neoma Smith, who had glaucoma and cataracts and whom he called his wife although they were never legally married. More.
Alas, no happy ending to this love story. What’s the most romantic gesture you’ve ever received or offered?
D.F. Oliveria is a columnist and blogger for The Spokesman-Review. Huckleberries Online was judged the best 2008 Idaho newspaper blog by the Idaho Press Club. And the best 2007 news blog in the Pacific Northwest by the Society for Professional Journalist. Print Huckleberries is a past winner of the Herb Caen Memorial Column contest by the National Association of Newspaper Columnists. The Readership Institute of Northwestern University cited this blog as a good example of online community journalism.
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Kage_Mann on December 30 at 11:57 a.m.
He’s building a mobile home, so his girlfriend can see America before she loses her eyesight and she leaves him before he can complete it? What a slap in the face. Not good for the ticker.
JeanieSpokane on December 30 at 12:12 p.m.
Very sad story - I drove by this “home” several times this last summer.
inlandempiregirl on December 31 at 11:38 a.m.
Right before we were married I had to leave for a week for a training. I had decided on paint colors and wanted to redo the exterior of my house before my soon-to-be husband moved in and we had the reception at the house. When I arrived home a week later this soon-to-be husband had spent his after-work hours painting the exterior of the house trim and all. It was a very romantic gesture.