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Or salute, to be more accurate.
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MnDOT worker Tim "Ox" Yeadon, 42, waves traffic over the interstate bridge into Winona on Thursday. Yeadon directs bridge traffic from the Wisconsin side for nearly 10 hours everyday as it is being fixed, and he waves to every car that passes. "I like to make people smile," Yeadon said. (photo by Katie Derus/Winona Daily News) |
Ox holds the stop sign for Minnesota-bound drivers while repairs are made on the bridge and traffic is restricted to one lane, a job he’s done for 10 hours a day every day since Labor Day. And, he’s greeted each driver — all 70,000, based on Minnesota Department of Transportation estimates — with his signature salute.
He’s one of those nameless faces who wander into life — the barista who brews the coffee or the man ringing up the cash register. It’s just that Ox is a bit more memorable than most.
“You can’t help but smile, and when you smile, you feel better,” says Annabel Becker, who returns Ox’s wave each morning at 7:30 on her way to work. “He may not realize he is doing more than his job.”
Ox has an inkling.
“The way I look at,” he said Thursday morning as cars zipped by, “people look at me and they think I have a really bad job. But things could be worse. It’s my job to make people smile.”
His sign turned to “SLOW,” Ox whips his right arm in a circle, signaling drivers it’s safe to proceed. He snaps his hand to salute every car. Circle, salute, circle, salute, circle, salute.
Almost everyone waves back, even the backseat passengers.
“Last one is a gold Kia,” he said into a radio when the final car passed. A minute later, another flagger on the opposite side tells Ox the Wisconsin-bound drivers are on their way.
“Bring ‘em to me,” he said. More salutes.
The routine repeats hundreds of times daily.
Ox doesn’t seem to get bored. A massive coffee Thermos keeps him going. He takes no breaks until the final car of his shift has passed, usually around 5 p.m.
That’s when he heads to Winona for a bite. Wednesday nights, you’ll find him at Charlie’s eating wings, meeting more people.
Ox lives near Rochester, Minn., when he isn’t on a job. He is 42, single, and has a graying goatee. He has worked road construction since he was 27 and has no plans to change.
The trick in life, Ox says, is taking folks for what they’re worth, one of the life lessons he learned from his grandmother. Never be ungrateful for what you don’t have, be grateful for what you do, she told him.
“Life ain’t so bad,” he said with a smile.
Ox is the topic of Sunday sermons in Winona. Drivers leave him candy. But in a few weeks, the repairs will be finished, and Ox will head for another site, another new town. He’ll become a nameless face in someone else’s life.
And perhaps, Winona drivers will miss the days when it took just a little longer to cross the bridge.
Matt Christensen may be reached at (507) 453-3510 or at matt.christensen@lee.net.
Average Joe wrote on Sep 27, 2008 5:03 PM: