Mystery Machine Makeover
5/19/2023His service van had been getting repaired. Little did he know that it was getting a complete makeover too. Wylie High School junior Weston Groff was waiting for his van to be returned. It was a mystery as to why so many of his friends and family were accompanying him.
Escorted by a school bus and followed by a Wylie Police car, his previously white van pulled into the front parking lot of WHS, revealing its new blue and green “Mystery Machine Makeover.”
Groff, his mother, and his brothers were taken aback at the sight of one of his favorite cartoons emblazoned across his van.
Groff has a life-shortening disability, Friedreich’s Ataxia, a rare disease similar to ALS or Muscular Dystrophy. Not knowing how many years he has left to live, his family set up a GoFundMe, “Weston’s Bucket List,” with hopes of helping Groff create as many memories as possible. Using a little bit of the money raised, local Wylie business, Laser Wraps, decked out Groff’s van to look like the infamous Mystery Machine from Scooby Doo.
“It’s one of my favorites,” Groff said about the animated television series. “This is the best surprise today.”
The van even has Fred, Shaggy, Daphne, Velma, and of course, Scooby peering out of the back windows, but there’s a new character added to this crime-solving team: Cosmo, Groff’s service dog. Cosmo joins the Scooby Doo cast as a cartoon looking out of the passenger window.
Groff’s bus driver joined in on the big reveal. At the head of the convoy, escorting in Groff’s van, was Marilyn Johnson, driving bus number 913.
“We love Weston like he is one of our own,” Johnson said. “He humbles us, and we love him.”
When he missed a few days of school, Johnson and Emebet Getachew, the bus monitor, brought him balloons for every day he had missed.
“We missed him,” Getachew said. “We take him to school every day and take him home. He’s a good kid, and we love him. We treat him like he’s our son.”
Groff’s humor is contagious.
“I better get a pay raise for this!” he said while he was the center of attention.
Groff’s friends and classmates helped him celebrate his new ride, even making posters to show their love.
Groff’s teacher Alicia Seeton helped plan the van reveal.
“I know how much the family has been through,” Seeton said. “For them to have a light in the middle of all this chaos is rewarding. They are such a gift to everyone else; it’s nice to see them on the receiving end.”