Staunton residents start tradition by welcoming Amtrak riders to town with song and snacks

Call it luck. Or happenstance. Carol and George Taylor had started walking their hound Charlie every afternoon back in April 2020 “to combat the blues and terrors of COVID.” In a time when isolation was keenly felt, walking Charlie qualified as an Adventure, not a chore to be sandwiched in between all the other tasks of the day.

They were near the train tracks when Amtrak’s Cardinal appeared. Like happy children the couple waved. A face popped up behind the high window, and a hand waved back.

It probably would have been something of a thrill anytime, but human contact was not to be taken for granted anymore. A person! A new person!

Carol and George decided to time Charlie’s walks to the Amtrak Cardinal’s schedule which runs 3 days a week between New York and Chicago. First one engineer waved, then two, occasionally three. Then one stuck his head out the window and waved.

To celebrate July 4th they waved flags and dressed in red, white and blue to greet the train.

Finally they hatched a plan to meet the train at the Staunton station at Thanksgiving with a poster and a card. They got to meet the supervisor of the engineers who told them how much he loved his job. As the train pulled out of the station, the engineers and all the conductors were waving and smiling. One wanted to know the dog’s name because, she said, as the story spread, “That dog has so many names.”

Christmas Time: another meeting. With presents! Charlie was presented with a new harness, play toy, dog chews and treats packaged in a shiny, red bag. Carol and George received Christmas cards, Lindt chocolates, snacks and Amtrak masks. They were “open-jawed.”

It was springtime before this tale came my way. Carol and George were setting up a grand celebration of spring. Richard Adams, Buddy Thomas and Jennifer Kirkland were asked to play music as the train came into the station. There were to be Welcome Spring signs and people to applaud and cheer. I was invited to be there, too.

No one had to ask twice. My late sister had lived in New York, I had traveled to see her many times on that same train. I enjoyed the view out the window no matter what it was: mountains, the back alleys of small towns, the skeletons of long-closed factories. It didn’t matter. It was a view of the backdoor of America, and I loved it.

Nothing could have kept me away from the train station when the Cardinal rolled in to the sounds of a horn and a banjo playing “You Are My Sunshine” which gave way to the bouncy “When the Red, Red Robin Comes Bob Bob Bobbin’ Along…” Richard handed Jennifer a drum to bang that looks as though it might have been retired from a high school marching band.

It was a brief stop, but the music, cheers, home-made posters, and a few gifts for the engineers made it into quite a celebration. Breaking into pandemic misery and deep suspicion of our fellow human beings, there was a little clutch of people enjoying each other. Bystanders smiled.

No one in the station knew the politics or religion or personal histories of engineers on the train, and engineers didn’t really know the strangers at the station. It was more about the moment, the dog, the music, the train, just people being people…..in a good way.

Charlie barked joyfully to welcome the train but was a perfect gentleman while it was in the station. As Richard and Buddy moved on to “Down by the Riverside” and “When the Saints Go Marching In,” the train engine came back to life, the whistle blew, and it slowly began to move. Charlie sprang into his best barking form.

What was it about this respite from the heaviness we have been living with? Well, for one thing, it was fun. But also I was reminded of all the rather casual relationships that I didn’t think much about until everything shut down: the vendors at the farmers’ market, the waitstaff at restaurants, the people I don’t know but see walking downtown, the guys at the tire store, clerks at the grocery store, my mail carrier.

So much is made of the importance of really close friends, but day to day it is a myriad of people Stanley Milgram called “familiar strangers” who bring kindness and good will our way.

Familiar strangers are to each other like wildflowers, put there to enjoy without our effort. They have salvaged more than one bad day.

And I will always wave to the engineers on the train.

— Write Staunton columnist Patricia Hunt at phunt@marybaldwin.edu.

This article originally appeared on Staunton News Leader: Staunton residents gather to bring cheer to city's Amtrak passengers