FRANKLIN, Tenn. (WTVF) — A Franklin man will tell you what he shares with the community is so very simple. Yet, the impact is lasting.
There was a little light rain on Tuesday morning. That wasn't stopping Jim Harris.
"Ah, it's a little damp," he smiled as he began his morning walk. "It's not bad."
Jim is part of his friends' morning routine along Franklin's Carothers Parkway. His friends are the cars driving by and honking.
"I've been called The Waver, the Waver Guy, the Waver Dude," Jim said, furiously waving at the cars passing by.
By the number of honks, it seemed as though they all knew Jim.
"A few of them do, yeah," he laughed. "I count my honks. Today, I'm at 70 honks."
He was just getting started.
For years, Jim worked in management at retail stores. He got to talk with people, his customers and employees. It was great. In retirement, he moved to Franklin during a tough year. 2020.
"The day after we moved in, they went into pandemic lock down," Jim explained. "I wanted to get some exercise. I started walking on the sidewalk just until everything opened up. One day I wondered if anyone would wave back."
Jim began waving all the way up to Murfreesboro Road and back. It was a connection with other people Jim needed and perhaps his friends needed too.
"I think everyone was looking for something familiar," Jim said. "We were looking to interact with somebody. I'd say I probably average about a thousand cars a day."
By now, people expect to see Jim. He remembers being sick a few days one time. When he finally got back out, a woman stopped and told him something.
"'I was about to send out an APB on you!'" he laughed, remembering her words. "It's nice that they care, you know."
"Would you have guessed you'd end up a local tradition?" I asked Jim.
"Never. Never," he answered. "It doesn't take a lot talent to do what I do. You just wave, and you smile, and you get out there every day. A guy stopped me the other day and said, 'I just wanna tell you I see you out here, and you bring me energy.'"
"You're somebody's morning coffee," I told Jim.
"Yeah, yeah, I'm caffeine!" he said.
Jim Harris. Starting off people's day a little better, one wave at a time.
"I get out of it as much as they do," he said. "They get one wave. I get a thousand waves."
Do you have a positive, good news story? You can email me at forrest.sanders@newschannel5.com.
I grew up in a small town with a small-town newspaper. Those reporters know the town perhaps better than anyone – the town officials, the high school superstars, the troublemakers, the difference makers. Forrest Sanders brings us a beautiful story about life and death and the enduring legacy of a small-town reporter and his written words.
-Carrie Sharp
