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Young artist draws family together Photo by Bob Pennell Immortalized on sheet metal - Grandparents John and Marjorie Daly of Silver Spring, Md., are greeted at the Medford airport Thursday with giant portraits of themselves painted on the Rogue Valley Transportation District's interactive bus by their grandson. Before Thursday, the grandparents had seen the bus mural only in photographs. By SARA MURPHY Dan Daly isn't old enough to drive, but he sure knows how to pick up his grandparents in style. The 10-year-old Talent boy took a bus to meet his grandma and grandpa at the Medford airport Wednesday afternoon. But it wasn't just any bus. And these weren't just any grandparents: John and Marjorie Daly, of Silver Spring, Md., are THE grandparents on the Rogue Valley Transportation District's Interactive Bus. The artist, of course, is Dan. "That's my bus," says the home-schooled fourth-grader. Dan drew the portrait last spring as a third-grade art project at Grace Christian School. It was selected from 76 others to be made into the 6-foot-high decal attached to the bus, which was introduced at the Jackson County Fair in July. "Every time I see that bus I let out a whoop," says Margie Daly, the artist's mom. "I just love that bus." Dan's fame has been fun for his grandparents, too, though they'd only seen photographs of the bus until this week's visit. "What a fabulous deal," says grandma Marjorie. "Instead of being famous for 15 minutes, I can be famous for a year." Since the fair, the bus has been cruising the streets on its regular route from White City to Ashland. It's also used to teach schoolchildren about public transportation and take them to visit retirement homes as part of RVTD's Young at Heart program. About 1,000 kids have had smaller portraits of their grandparents -- "grammies, umpas, poppas and mo-mos," the kids call them -- featured on the bus, says Richard Smith, RVTD marketing director. The program has been so popular with children and their parents, Smith says, that RVTD plans to introduce a second interactive bus at this year's fair. The new bus will have a firefighting theme. Dan's bus will stay in commission for another year, says Smith, who joined the Daly family to meet John and Marjorie at the airport. "Having those grandparents come in (to see the bus), that's the top of the cake for me," he says. Proud papa Pat Daly couldn't agree more. "This goes beyond cool," he says. "This is way cool." Today's Edition : News | Sports | Business | Weather | Tempo | Classifieds Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 2000, Medford, Oregon USA