Kids Unite to Help the 'Grandma in the Window'

For the past five years, the kids on Bus 7 in Arlington, Washington, and their bus driver Carol Mitzelfeldt have looked forward to driving by the "Grandma in the Window," a sweet old woman who waved to them every day. So when she wasn't in her usual spot in the window, Mitzelfeldt and the kids became concerned.

"It was kind of heartbreaking because she was always there," Axtin Bandewerfhorst, a seventh-grader, told NBC's KING 5 news.

Armed with a bouquet of flowers, Mitzelfeldt went to check on 'Grandma,' but got no response at the door. She left the flowers along with a note that read, "'To the grandma in the window, we’re thinking of you. Love, the kids on bus 7 and bus driver, Carol," Mitzelfeldt told The Huffington Post.

Mitzelfeldt learned a few days later that 'Grandma,' whose real name is Louise Edlen, had had a stroke and was being cared for at a local rehabilitation center. She told the kids on the bus what had happened and they decided to do something to cheer her spirits.

The kids posed for a picture waving out the window of their school bus, just as Edlen saw them everyday. Mitzelfeldt printed the photo and mounted it to a piece of sturdy foam board. She signed the photo from the kids on bus 7 and delivered it to Edlen at the rehabilitation center.

Louise's husband, Dave Edlen, told the "Today" show that waving to the kids every day means the world to his wife of 53 years and that the photo was very special.

Fortunately, Elden has been released from the rehabilitation center and she's back home in her usual spot, waving to the kids on bus 7, as their "Grandma in the Window."