Every afternoon, Lee LeBlanc and Judy Molkentine leave their homes in Greenfield Commons and walk down to Forest Road to wave at cars. Sometimes they walk up and down the street, other times they sit in lawn chairs with balloons or other props as they say “hi” to every car and cyclist going by. People have even started to bring them gifts. Earlier on Tuesday a young woman gave them cookies, LeBlanc said. “These flags are from somebody,” Molkentine said, referring to the set of American flags the two were waving. “99 percent of the people wave, we’ve had so many people stop and take pictures,” she said.
The two began their daily ritual on March 13, as New Hampshire’s stay-at-home orders came into effect. “We were walking, then all of a sudden we started waving,” Molkentine said. “This is a great way to relieve all that – enclosure. You’re outside… we’re talking and laughing all the way…it feels so good,” she said.
“The first thing they say to us is “Oh, you’ve made my day.” I say well, that’s why we’re here, and you just made our day!” LeBlanc said, and that the two plan to continue their ritual every day the stay-at-home order is in place. Both are longtime residents of the Monadnock region.
“It really lifts your spirits when you see them waving and smiling and cheering you on when you drive by,” resident Sally Kandilakis said. Her husband sees them on his commute from the hospital, she said. “My children think the ladies are so great that they even painted ‘thank you’ rocks for them,” she said, and left them where they usually stand. “They started a wave of kindness!”