Bus Driver Bill

While attending college, I worked several jobs to help with the high costs of getting educated. One of my most rewarding jobs was transporting precious cargo around. Here’s my story.

Bus Driver Bill

 

In 1961 and 1962, I attended Frank Phillips Jr. College in Borger, Texas. I was able to get a job driving a school bus for the Catholic School just north of the college. Every morning I left at 6 AM to pick up kids that ranged from the first grade to the sixth grade in age. During this period I had a few experiences that were on the unusual side that may be of interest.

 

The first event occurred in the spring of the year. I was on the tail end of my run with about thirty kids aboard. I had just picked up my last passenger and started rolling down the street at about 10 miles an hour.when I felt a large thump and the back of the bus dropped down about a foot and we came to an abrupt stop. I calmed the kids, ask if any one was hurt, and told them to stay put while I assessed the problem. I put the oldest kid at the front of the bus with orders not to let anyone off. I walked to the back of the bus and found the lug nuts on the back dual wheels had broken and saw the wheels had basically fallen off. I then went to the closest house and called the school. Fortunately, one of the other drivers had come in and unloaded so he came out and picked us up and hauled us to the school. We all arrived safely and the ordeal was over. I called my boss and told him the story and he asked”….Couldn’t you hear or feel anything before the wheels came off….” I told him yes I could hear the kids yelling and feel them jumping up and down in their seats. He told me later that they found the wheels had been put on without cleaning the mud off the rims and the mud had loosened and the wheels eventually wore the lug bolts apart. They changed maintenance companies and life went on.

 

The second event occurred in mid winter. The temperature was about 10 degrees Fahrenheit and it was blowing snow in the middle of a blizzard with about six inches of snow on the ground. I was again near the end of my morning run and had about 30 kids aboard. I was rolling about 25 miles an hour on a street with no stop signs on it. All the side streets had stop signs as they entered the main road I was on. I could see a car coming on the side road as I approached the intersection. When I entered the intersection. I could see the car was unable to stop as he was sliding straight into my forward path. I tried to stop but we collided and we had quite a jar in the bus. The wreck had pushed the fender of the bus against the tire so it was no longer drivable. I surveyed for injuries and found only one small cut lip, so I again put someone in charge to keep the kids on the bus and knocked on a door. I called the school, my boss, and the police. The nice lady asked if I wanted to bring the kids in the house until the other bus got there to keep them warm so I said yes and they all went inside. When the bus got there, I asked the driver to have the school nurse check the kids when he got back. The police arrived about thirty minutes later and gave the car driver a failure to yield right of way ticket. They also gave me a ticket for having a fogged windshield. I explained that it was not fogged when I had the accident, but that it had fogged up when the kids sat in the bus before going into the house. They gave it to me anyway. I called a friend of mine at the police station who intercepted and tore the ticket up stating it should never have been issued. The bus was repaired, no one was hurt, I received no ticket, and again life went on.

 

I have run across three of the students that rode my bus in later life. One was a Spanish boy that always sat next to me in the front seat. I was a Treating Engineer for Phillips at Borger, Texas and he was an operator at Rock Creek Plant where I had a project going on. We both recognized each other right away. Another was Mary, who married Brad, my sister in-law Brenda’s son. And the other was Christie, who is Mary’s sister that married a Phillips engineer that I knew.

 

 

Frank Phillips Junior College I attended while driving the school bus for extra cash.

 

School bus similar to the one I drove for the Catholic School in 1962.

Thanks for heading Bus Driver Bill,

Hawg Jaw Bill