Carson City resident spreads joy, cheer to motorists

When E.D. Crouser smiles, people pay attention.

In spite of the distractions caused by heavy traffic, it's really hard to miss the 34 year-old Carson City resident and mother of three standing at a busy intersection.

Besides a cheerful grin, Crouser also sports her trademark red-foam clown nose and waves signs printed with simple, bold affirmations.

"Smiles do a whole lot," she said. "It starts the endorphins, and will change your mood as well as other peoples' moods."

Drivers around the state capital recognize Crouser as the cheery sign waver spreading her happiness to others at such busy intersections as Highway 50 East and College Parkway/Fairview Drive.

Crouser said she likes to target the busiest intersections at peak traffic times because she knows she will reach the most people that day.

"It's therapeutic for me, and therapeutic for those passing by," she said.

The Bay Area, California, native has been lifting peoples' spirits in this manner for about five years now.

And it all began with the nose.

"My nose came from my childhood, growing up in my dad's circus where I played the silent clown," Crouser said. "I used smiles as a way to communicate to others."

Crouser said smiles are a universal, non-verbal language that everybody speaks.

"If there's one thing we all can understand it's a smile," she said, confirming that it takes fewer muscles to smile than it does to frown. "Making others smile makes me smile."

Crouser said in 2010 she began wearing her red-foam nose to work at Wal-Mart in an effort to lighten the atmosphere.

"Wal-Mart isn't always the most pleasant place," she said. "There can be a lot of negativity going around there."

So she started wearing her red nose again to make people smile.

Combined with her own infectious smile, the formula worked instantly. Just her mere presence tended to lighten the mood of shoppers, she said.

Smiling is something that has become second-nature for Crouser, who credits the positive attitudes of her parents with her own bright outlook on life.

"My mom is one of my biggest heroes and greatest role models," she said. "She's been in a wheelchair her entire life. But I learned empathy and compassion from her."

Despite her condition, Crouser said her mother would make meals for others or do their laundry for them.

Her family was most often low income, she said, but her parents taught her to appreciate life for what it is.

"I've lived in low income throughout my life," she said. "I've learned to be happy with what I have, and to make the most of what I've got."

Crouser's father started out as a street performer before opening his own circus show titled "Circus Minimus," she said. It was with him that she developed her signature smile.

Crouser took her in-bred enthusiasm and zeal for life with her to Oregon in 2011.

It was in the state capital of Salem where she got the notion to add sign waving to her cheery presentation.

She recalls observing a lot of people on their lunch breaks while waiting for her children's bus to arrive.

"So I started going out with a sign that had a positive message for the children and the passers-by," she said.

Not only was her red-nosed sign-waving routine embraced by Salem residents, it had become endearing.

"There was this one lady who came by my corner one day," Crouser said. "She was in tears, as she started explaining to me how she had received this strange text from her late-husband's cell phone number that said 'smile.' "

At the time, Crouser said she had been waving a sign that read "smile" in large letters. When the lady saw this, Crouser said, she broke down.

"She felt in some way her husband was communicating through me that it was all right to smile and everything was going to be okay," Crouser said.

From that point forward, Crouser said, her happiness routine became about more than spreading cheer.

It had developed into a way in which she felt she could connect with and make a difference in the lives of other fellow human beings.

"I'm just trying to be a beneficial person," she said. "We're all here to express divine love. I like to put love into action."

Her sign waving is scheduled most of the time, she said, around her work as a resident assistant at an assisted living facility in Carson City.

However, there are other times when her routine yields to spontaneity.

"It can be spur of the moment," she said. "I might say to my husband, 'hey, I got this feeling, and I've got to go out to this corner right now.' "

One such occasion occurred around Mother's Day this year.

Crouser said she felt she needed to go out that day with a Mother's Day message. As she was waving her sign that read "hug a mom," one lady reacted in a completely unexpected way, Crouser said.

"She stopped her car right there, got out, hugged me and then drove off," she said.

Crouser said she has literally hundreds of individual signs, each with a different positive affirmation, written simply and succinctly for the benefit of motorists.

"Everyone has an amazing and unique story on how it affected them," she said. "I do try to hit different corners, because I get different traffic."

Crouser said she likes being out at intersections on Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays and even holidays during periods of high traffic.

"Who couldn't use a lift on a Monday?" she said. "Wednesday reminds you that you're halfway there. And Friday is a day to celebrate."

A fan favorite among her signs are those that express awesomeness, Crouser said.

"Everyone likes to be told they are awesome," she said. "It tells them they have potential, and I see potential as well."

Crouser said the responses to her smile, red nose and affirmative messages have been overwhelmingly positive, whether she has waved to people in Salem or Carson City.

But there are always a few, she said, that have difficulty accepting her positive attitude.

"I've had food products thrown at me, gotten the finger a few times, while others shout out 'get a job,' " she said.

Crouser, in her own unique and quintessential style of happiness, shrugs off the nay-sayers and feels their negativity only reinforces her belief that the world needs more of what she gives out.

"Those are individuals who really need to see that sign, and see me out there," she said. "They're the ones that really need to know that they are loved."

She said negative reactions only fuel her drive to encourage others by spreading her joy.

"It means I've struck a chord with them," she said.

As for her own motivation, Crouser said everything from her red nose to her smile and the sign waving are done because she wants to do her part to make the world we all live in a better place to be.

"I can only be the best example I can be, and I want my children to go into this world and make a difference," Crouser said. "You get what you give, and I do with what I've got."

Note to the haters out there: E.D. Crouser has a job, and she reports being happily employed.

In her spare time, she likes to make other people smile, and to help them see happiness in action.

"My community is an extension of my family," she said. "I hope to inspire other individuals to go out and do the same."

The happiness routine doesn't net Crouser any money. There's no monetary gain from going out on one's own time to spread a little bit of joy and cheer.

And E.D. Crouser wouldn't even think of doing this for money, either.

She reports being happy with where she's at in life.

"I'm rich with love and happiness," she said.