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Bonded by the bus

It started with a wave. Leo Milhollen's greetings to a passing school bus have grown into a friendship.

By LETITIA STEIN
Published April 8, 2005

The Children's Academy bus drove down Telfair Road, as always, around 2:30 in the afternoon. Honk. Honk. Honk.

Leo Milhollen waited outside a white ranch-style house with a camera around his neck. In a blue electric wheelchair, Milhollen waved from the end of the driveway.

The bus parked on the front lawn, and two dozen children poured out.

"Hello, Mr. Leo," the children called out.

"How are you folks today?" Milhollen replied.

"Good."

Since February, Milhollen and the children have become friends through the bus windows. Milhollen likes to wave at passing traffic. His son's house along Telfair Road sits on the bus route to the Children's Academy, a child care facility on Limona Road.

On this day, the bus stopped. Academy director Susana Blake had a message to deliver.

"We go by a lot of people in our bus," Blake told Milhollen. "Some of them tell us to go faster."

Blake brought a gift from the school to thank Mr. Leo.

Milhollen has taught them something that no teacher could with a textbook and blackboard. Kindness is not a lesson for the brain. It starts in the heart.

"Here in Brandon, we think you are one of our most loved, dear, kindhearted friends," she said, honoring Milhollen with a blue ribbon that reads "Kind Heart in Action."

The ribbon was attached with a pin that shows the sign language symbol for love. The Children's Academy typically gives out five such awards each year.

The children sang songs. Milhollen asked if they had heard of Niagara Falls. When they nodded, he told them that he lives about an hour away in Perry, N.Y. The 75-year-old retiree comes to Brandon in the winter to visit his adult son.

This winter, he made a busload of new friends.

The friendship started with waves. On Valentine's Day, the Children's Academy bus paused outside the house on Telfair Road. Blake delivered a cookie. The children waved extra hard from the bus.

At the time, Milhollen didn't know that the 24-year-old Children's Academy was located just a few blocks from his son's house.

But he was deeply touched.

"That's so out of the ordinary today," Milhollen said. "People are not as friendly and mannerly as they used to be."

He found the school and dropped off chocolate eggs for the children in the school bus around Easter. Milhollen and Blake scheduled a play date for after spring break.

That Wednesday, Milhollen finally met his new friends. They visited just a few days before he returned to New York. They surprised him with the award.

Mr. Leo was ready to return the favor. He handed out lollipops. He got back hugs.

Letitia Stein can be reached at 661-2443 or lstein@sptimes.com

[Last modified April 7, 2005, 08:55:10]