I talked to Ed Carlson, The Waver, by telephone last week and prepared this column for our Jan. 6 edition. Sadly, it will not run then.

Carlson died Friday at age 75 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa in the home he shared with his daughter, Cecelia.

For anyone living in Northern Nevada from the mid-1970s into the 2000s, The Waver was a familiar — and often delightful sight. I hope the column shows that he appreciated the people of Reno as much as they appreciated him.

'The Waver' wants Reno to know he's doing fine

Ed Carlson wants Reno to know, as Mark Twain once said, that rumors of his demise are greatly exaggerated.

The Waver, as he is more commonly known to generations of motorists in Northern Nevada, is alive and well and living with one of his daughters in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.

“I’ve aged a little bit, but I’m still looking good,” Carlson, 75, said with a laugh when reached at home. “I’m kind of a semi-retired Waver right now.”

It seems that whenever Carlson – who walked and waved to drivers between Reno and Carson City for the better part of 30 years – hasn’t been seen in the area for a while, whispers start up that he died, either from being hit by a car or some other fate.

I have to admit the latest round of rumors is partially my fault. I posted a vintage photo of the Waver, taken in the 1970s, on Facebook. Within hours, it received more than 150 “likes” and nearly 100 comments, most of which were fond remembrances of seeing or meeting Carlson. Several, however, wondered or asserted that Carlson had died.

I was pretty sure that wasn’t the case, but having not seen the Waver for many months – something not uncommon in recent years – I was worried such news might have slipped past me and we’d lost a Reno icon.

For those who don’t know about Ed “The Waver” Carlson, here’s some background.

He was born and raised in Iowa, served in the army, married and moved his family around the country as he worked a variety of jobs, including deputy sheriff, logger, oil field worker, dock worker, bartender, carnival worker and female impersonator in a comedy show.

One day he arrived home to discover his wife of almost 20 years had taken their daughters and left him. He called the moment “an awakening.”

He hitchhiked blindfolded from Boston, where his brother lived, across the country. The road led him to Los Angeles to San Francisco to Seattle and then back across the country toward Chicago. On his way to Chicago, however, he was camped in western Iowa when his inner voice told him he needed to be in Reno. He went to the highway and the first vehicle to come along was a van driven by a man headed to San Francisco. He gave Carlson a ride and dropped him off in Reno in May 1974.

It was here in the Truckee Meadows, he said, when he realized his purpose is to walk and wave and share his love with others.

“The best feeling there is in the world is to feel love in our heart, then share it with the world,” he said.

From the mid-1970s through the early 2000s, The Waver – with long hair, a beard, a pouch strapped over a shoulder and an ever-present smile – was a part of the area’s landscape. For much of that time, he could be seen almost every day walking US 395 between Reno and Carson City.

“For the first 20 years, I went down there almost every day,” Carlson said. “The last 10, I did my walking around Reno. (He had triple-bypass heart surgery in 1998.) In all those years, I walked the equivalent of 10 times around the world. I amaze myself when I think about it now. In fact, this morning when I was laying there chanting, I was picturing myself in the different places I walked. How did I walk all those miles?”

For several years in the 2000s, Carlson split time between Reno and Sedona, Ariz.

Long before, he had reestablished a relationship with his former wife and daughters and would travel to Iowa to visit them. In 2008, he returned there. He and his wife Bonnie remarried as she battled terminal lung cancer. At nearly the same time, they lost their Cedar Rapids home and all their possessions to a massive flood.”

Carlson fondly recalls the letters of support and money sent to him from Reno residents when word spread about his hardship.

“I must have gotten at least 300 letters from people,” he said. “People sent us donations. I used it all for her funeral. I was so touched by all those letters. Would get 10, 20 letters a day. I would cry every time I would get those letters.”

He decided to stay in Cedar Rapids to be with his daughters.

Carlson said he still works out every day, walking an hour on a treadmill, doing pushups and situps.

“I’m 75 now, but I don’t feel it,” he said. “I exercise a lot.”

He said he watches TV and reads Louis L’Amour westerns to pass the time. He doesn’t do much waving in Iowa.

He said he doesn’t have any immediate plans to visit Reno, but isn’t ruling out a visit either.

“I really miss Reno and I miss waving,” he said. “My Waver years aren’t over yet.”