NILES — Dial-a-Ride Transportation bus driver Charles Leath would often pick up Wayne Wilson and drive him to Walmart. When Leath would return, Wilson would board with groceries for himself and a package of coconut-covered cookies, one of Leath’s favorites, for his bus driver.

On May 28, Wilson, a veteran, retired bus driver and longtime Niles resident, died at 67.

“We hit it right off,” Leath said, recalling the first time he picked Wilson up. “We’d talk all the time, and he was one of the nicest people I ever met.”

While he was loved by friends, Wilson did not have any next of kin to carry out his funeral.

Brown Funeral Home and Creation Services and staff member Drew Mikal did not want him to be buried without a proper funeral, so Mikal sent out a press release asking community members to attend Wilson’s funeral at 2 p.m. Wednesday in Niles’ Silverbrook Cemetery.

“I sent it out yesterday and said, ‘Well, if we get 10 or 15 people from the community to come and pay their respects, that would be a huge success,” he said last Thursday.

As of the weekend, a photo of a press release published in the Niles Daily Star had been shared by thousands of people throughout the Midwest and a few local organizations on Facebook. Mikal said he even heard from an Idaho couple planning to come across the country to attend.

“It’s been awesome to see the way the community has rallied in just a handful of hours,” he said. “It’s been really cool to see.”

Wilson, born Dec. 11, 1951, in Michigan City, Indiana, will receive full military honors by the U.S. Army and American Legion Post 51 at his roadside service, including taps and a 21-gun salute. He will then be buried with an American flag, provided by Brown Funeral Home’s Flag Retirement program for veterans.

The Vietnam War veteran served in the army from 1971 to 1977.

It was Wilson’s service, Leath said, that allowed him to “hit it off” so well with his frequent passenger. Leath noticed Wilson’s 2nd Infantry Division patch when Wilson first boarded his bus.

“I wore that sucker for three years in the 1960s before Vietnam,” he said.

Over his nearly four years busing Wilson from one place to another, Leath noticed his passenger’s commitment to helping others.

He recalled a time when Wilson once boarded the bus 50 cents short. Leath let him on anyway.

“The next time I went to pick him up, he comes in with five extra dollars in quarters and said, ‘Keep these for someone else that needs them,”’ Leath said.

Wilson was also known to check in on those who lived near him before he went shopping, asking if they needed anything. That was surprising, Leath said, because Wilson was in a wheelchair.

Wilson was known to encourage others to donate to his fellow disabled veterans through the Paralyzed Veterans Association, Mikal said. He was also known to be the first attendee at Silverbrook Cemetery for Niles’ annual Memorial Day Parade.

On Wednesday, Niles DART will offer free bus shuttling to Wilson’s graveside service. If Leath is not the person driving that bus, he will be attending Wilson’s funeral, he said.

DART staff recommend calling and scheduling a ride a few hours before the 2 p.m. service.

Once attendees arrive at Silverbrook Cemetery by bus, car or foot, the pastor and founder of Hope Community Church will deliver a speech about Wilson.

Other area leaders attending include representatives of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians and members of a local Girl Scout chapter.

“I’m blown away at the way the public has received this and all the positive feedback we’ve gotten,” Mikal said. “It really speaks volumes to the quality of the community we have in Niles.”