400 students wave final surprise goodbye to grandmother who waved them off to school for years

Hundreds of students in Comox, B.C., have waved to Tinney Davidson on their way to school over the past 12 years.

She lives in a white rancher on Guthrie Road near Highland Secondary School. Every morning, she's sat in a chair by her front window and waved to teenagers heading to class. 

Soon, Davidson won't be in her window when students go to school. At 88, she's moving to an assisted living home.

More than 400 students walked to Davidson's house together to give one more wave goodbye on Thursday. They crammed together on her front lawn with bouquets of flowers and handmade signs.

Davidson clapped her hands when she opened her door and saw standing-room only on the grass.

"Oh, lovely, thank you," she said, holding a tissue.

Davidson and her late husband, Ken, started waving to the teenagers after the couple moved into the house in 2007. Soon the students were waving back.

"I just liked the look of the children and they all looked in and I thought, 'If they're looking in, I'll wave to them,' and that's how it started," Davidson said during an interview in 2014.

Davidson continued the waving tradition after her husband died. By then, the high school students were visiting her at home. In 2016, they surprised her with a school Valentine's Day assembly in her honour and decorated her house with red and pink paper hearts.

Davidson, then 86, stood in her doorway and gave students hugs when they came to give her Valentine's cards.

On Thursday, the teenagers counted down from three to blow her a group kiss.

"Love you," one student said before turning to leave.

Davidson waved and said bye back, sitting in a chair that had been set out for her on the front porch.

"I was shocked again that's there's so many kids that want to say goodbye to me," she said.