On a trail the other day in Cedar Rapids, an elderly guy was cruising along on his battery-powered scooter. Trailing behind him like a piece of toilet paper stuck to a shoe was strip of plastic that must have been a foot wide and 25 or 30 feet long. I figured he’d gotten snagged somewhere along the way and didn’t realize it. I told him about it as I passed by.
He said, “I’m taking it down to the next trash bin. The last one was full.”
Not able to walk along the trail, it seems, but still caring enough to pick up trash. I thought that was cool. He laughed and laughed. Made my day.
Add your own tales of nice Iowa people by adding comments below.
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Vern Rotert
A couple years ago I was driving on First Ave. in Cedar Rapids and had to stop at a Stop light and was 4 or 5 cars back from the intersection. When the light turned green several cars went though the intersection when the car ahead of me with 2 young men, in there late teens or early 20’s, stopped in the street ahead of me. Then I noticed the older lady that had crossed the street in front of us during the red light was having trouble stepping up on to the curb to get on the side walk. One young man in the car in front of me got out of his car and went to helped the older lady get up the curb and onto the side walk, then he got back into his car and continued on there way.
There was plenty of room for cars to get past her safely but they stopped and helped. I often wonder if I would have stopped and helped?
Who said young people are not courteous in Iowa.
From Nice Iowa stuff, 2008/10/01 at 3:28 PM
I’ve met some pretty interesting people in Davenport,and had some issues with St. Ambrose. But my school has some of the nicest professors I’ve ever come across. Granted it is a smaller school, it’s nice to have a professor I had three years ago come up to me and ask me how my year was going. They actually remembered me!
I grew up in Iowa and moved to Los Angeles in my 20s, a mere few years ago (not). I had an interesting encounter yesterday. I was at work with a new client. She told me several times that I was so very nice. She seemed surprised by it. She proceeded to ask me where I was from. When I told her Iowa, her reaction was “Oh no wonder, people from Iowa are very nice!” Her English was limited but she literally used the word nice! not helpful, or kind but nice. How fitting for this website. I must have brought some “Iowa nice” with me. It’s reassuring to think I haven’t lost it.
Since my sister and her husband moved to Cedar Rapids four years ago, I’ve spent a considerable amount of time in Iowa (Des Moines, Iowa City, and CR). I love the place!! I also live in the midwest, but I think the nicest and most helpful people I’ve ever met live in Iowa! During my first visit to CR, I turned to my sister and said “I’m going to love this place” – and I continue to feel that way.
I have three “Nice Iowa” stories that I would like to add to the site. They all three are based on nice things people did when our son, Kyle came home on leave from Iraq. The first one is about some good friends of ours buying a large sign to put in our yard to welcome our soldier home. While visiting our friend’s home, we had noticed a sign in their neighbor’s yard welcoming home a soldier. We asked if our friends would find out where their neighbor had bought the sign so we could purchase one to welcome Kyle home. Instead of getting the information for us, they purchased the sign.
The second story is about some wonderful family members searching Des Moines for some Sam Adam’s Octoberfest beer for us when we couldn’t find it in Cedar Rapids. When asked what he was looking forward to when returning to the states, Kyle mentioned one of the things he would love to have was Sam Adam’s Octoberfest beer. When we went to purchase the beer, CR stores were completely sold out and would not be getting any more since it was a seasonal item. Some of our family members scoured the city of Des Moines and found some for his homecoming celebration.
The last one is about a neighbor that had never even met Kyle, who wanted to thank him for serving in Iraq so she gave him money to go out to eat. He has received many packages, prayers, notes and well wishes also. Some examples of Iowa people going out of their way to say thank you to an Iowa soldier.
I recently stopped in at a coffee shop in Cedar Rapids where I occasionally grab a bite to eat on my lunch hour. I ordered my soup, bagel and drink, waited at the register until the order was ready, reached into my bag to pull out my money– and discovered my billfold was missing. I quickly remembered exactly where I had left it at home, but this didn’t solve the immediate problem of having absolutely no cash to pay for my meal. Without missing a beat, the manager said, “Oh, don’t worry about it. We know you’ll be back. Just bring the money next time.” Now that was Iowa nice. (By the way, I did pay up later that day!)
I was born in Des Moines, spent some of my infancy in Iowa City and grew up as an Iowan in exile on the East Coast. I have lived happily in Seattle for 36 of the last 38 years but have not forgotten my roots. Helps to have lots of Iowa nice relatives. A couple of weeks ago I was seeing one of many kids who come through our clinic and had a bit of time to chat with the mom and her mom who was along. Seems they are from just north of Iowa City and when I mentioned my connections, their response to the effect that they weren’t surprised at all because I was being so nice. So thanks to all you cousins for keeping me grounded. I should also say that there are any number of nice Iowans who have migrated out here.
Small Town Kindness
As I left the house to go to a business meeting, I picked up five twenty dollar bills to get change at the bank. I tucked them into an outside pocket of my handbag, sticking out a bit to remind me of the errand.
When I got to the bank, two stops later, the money was gone. I started my search in late afternoon. The next day, I stopped at 21st Century Bookstore because I parked there on my previous errand. Feeling it was a long shot, I asked Tony if anyone had turned in some twenties, and he handed me a business card and a phone, saying this man has your money, give him a call.
John Worsfold, a manager at Lisco, not only had my $100 in hand, but offered to come over to the store to give it back to me! It was my pleasure to save him the trip, and it is my total delight that I live in Fairfield where people are living the “old fashioned” values of kindness and integrity. Thank you John!
PS This experience reminds me vividly of my friend Duke, who gave me a ride to Fairfield in 1974 or so ~ he never tires of telling this story, which has structured his steadfast opinion of MIU/MUM ever since: “When I walked through the Student Union, there was a $1 bill tacked onto the bulletin board with a note asking if anyone had lost it.”
Even with inflation, we’re not getting older, we’re getting better.