Small Gesture Is Everything

Sun., Feb. 15, 1998

Roy Rivenburg Los Angeles Times

We don’t like to get maudlin, but we were recently driving through Fullerton, Calif., idly wondering why we always refer to ourselves as “we” even though we are obviously just one person, when we noticed a striking sight. A woman in a wheelchair was sitting outside a retirement home waving at motorists and passersby. We couldn’t help but smile, and we couldn’t help but think she must possess a wonderful, joyful attitude toward life.

We were not alone. Last week, Marie Sacino, better known as the “Fullerton Greeter,” died at age 76. And when convalescent home officials placed her empty, black-ribboned wheelchair outside to let the world know she was gone, the chair was soon deluged with flowers, notes and balloons from the drivers and schoolchildren who were touched by this New York-born grandmother’s seemingly small daily gesture.

Honk if you miss Marie.

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