Advertisement
Bill ends 40-year career carting BV kids to, from school
By By Jill Meier
Challenger editor
Challenger editor
Comment
Print
EmailDecember 11. 2009 6:00AM
Forty years behind the wheel of a school bus simply went by far too fast.
That’s how Carolyn Bill sums up her four-decade career that was born out of a simple conversation with her then 2-year-old son.
“One day I was in the elementary office standing there with my 2-year-old. The buses started rolling in and he made some comment about it. I told him that his mom used to drive school bus,” Bill recalls. Prior to moving to Brandon in 1968, Bill drove school bus three years Hot Springs.
Overhearing the mother and son conversation, elementary principal Russ Wilkins recruited her right on the spot.
“It went fast – it really did,” Bill said from the comforts of her kitchen table last week.
The 77-year-old hadn’t intended to give up her familiar No. 9 route, but a bout with pneumonia in early November, followed by reactions from medications, forced her to end a career she truly loved.
“I enjoyed it and I already miss the kids,” she said just a few weeks after her last run.
Fellow bus driver Gene Standish said Bill has hauled three generations of families over the course of her 40 years behind the wheel.
“She’s a fine bus driver and well respected,” Standish said. “And out at the bus barn, if there’s anything wanted, she’s always there.”
Bill blames that trait on her mother.
“That’s the way my mother was and the way I was raised, so I blame her,” she said.
Through her four decades of driving bus for the Brandon Valley School District, Bill had few complaints about the youngsters who rode her bus.
“On the first day of school, I’d just tell them they had to be quiet, because if I was looking at them, I wouldn’t be watching the road,” she said. “They just seemed to learn after the first few days of school.”
Marlet Graue, who was Bill’s supervisor for 14 years and fellow bus driver 10 years prior, said Bill had a unique ability to be strict and fair.
“She’s a neat lady and wasn’t afraid to tell those kids how it is,” Graue said. “She just had the knack.”
Graue said Bill often went above and beyond the call of duty. “She’d take the extra time to make sure the kids got in the right door,” Graue said. And for a student who used the aid of a walker, Bill requested that the snow was cleared for the child.
“That’s something that not all drivers would do,” Graue said. “She was just a hard worker and looked out for people. It’s always been give, give, give – that’s just the type of person she is.”
It was the small things Bill did that prompted Graue to nominate Bill for the 2007 South Dakota Department of Transportation-sponsored “Bus Driver of the Year Award,” of which she was the recipient, and the first bus driver from Brandon Valley to receive the honor.
Summoned by her alarm clock the past 40 years, Bill’s day began at 5 a.m., giving her ample time to prepare for her 6:40 a.m. departure from the bus garage. “You have to check the fluids and tires every trip,” she said. Her morning and afternoon routes took her 22 miles around the countryside, beginning on Maple Street past the Big Sioux Rec Area toward Isaac Walton, down Six Mile Road and then to The Bluffs.
“It’s a hilly route, but it was the prettiest of the routes I think,” Bill said.
In between those routes, Bill drove the midday kindergarten route, picking up youngsters from the southwest side of the school district.
For the most part, Route 9 has remained the same, Bill said, and so have the names and faces on her route. “All of the kids I’ve gotten to know and the parents,” she said, “I’ve been real fortunate.”
And as much as Bill admits she misses the kids, it seems they in turn share those same sentiments. “I had a kid come up to me the other day and say, ‘You used to be my bus driver,’ ” she said. That simple acknowledgement, she said, was greatly appreciated.
In her 40 years behind the wheel, Bill said she has just one regret.
“I should’ve started writing a book a long time ago,” she said, “because no two days are the same.”
And it’s the kids, she said, who kept her behind the wheel for 40 years.
“You don’t ever want to try the job if you don’t like kids,” she advises. “Because that’s who you’re with all of the time.”
IF YOU GO
What: Retirement party for Carolyn Bill
When: Sunday, Dec. 13
Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
Where: Brandon Valley Transportation Center, 812 E. Redwood Blvd.
Refreshments will be served. The public is invited.
That’s how Carolyn Bill sums up her four-decade career that was born out of a simple conversation with her then 2-year-old son.
“One day I was in the elementary office standing there with my 2-year-old. The buses started rolling in and he made some comment about it. I told him that his mom used to drive school bus,” Bill recalls. Prior to moving to Brandon in 1968, Bill drove school bus three years Hot Springs.
Overhearing the mother and son conversation, elementary principal Russ Wilkins recruited her right on the spot.
“It went fast – it really did,” Bill said from the comforts of her kitchen table last week.
The 77-year-old hadn’t intended to give up her familiar No. 9 route, but a bout with pneumonia in early November, followed by reactions from medications, forced her to end a career she truly loved.
“I enjoyed it and I already miss the kids,” she said just a few weeks after her last run.
Fellow bus driver Gene Standish said Bill has hauled three generations of families over the course of her 40 years behind the wheel.
“She’s a fine bus driver and well respected,” Standish said. “And out at the bus barn, if there’s anything wanted, she’s always there.”
Bill blames that trait on her mother.
“That’s the way my mother was and the way I was raised, so I blame her,” she said.
Through her four decades of driving bus for the Brandon Valley School District, Bill had few complaints about the youngsters who rode her bus.
“On the first day of school, I’d just tell them they had to be quiet, because if I was looking at them, I wouldn’t be watching the road,” she said. “They just seemed to learn after the first few days of school.”
Marlet Graue, who was Bill’s supervisor for 14 years and fellow bus driver 10 years prior, said Bill had a unique ability to be strict and fair.
“She’s a neat lady and wasn’t afraid to tell those kids how it is,” Graue said. “She just had the knack.”
Graue said Bill often went above and beyond the call of duty. “She’d take the extra time to make sure the kids got in the right door,” Graue said. And for a student who used the aid of a walker, Bill requested that the snow was cleared for the child.
“That’s something that not all drivers would do,” Graue said. “She was just a hard worker and looked out for people. It’s always been give, give, give – that’s just the type of person she is.”
It was the small things Bill did that prompted Graue to nominate Bill for the 2007 South Dakota Department of Transportation-sponsored “Bus Driver of the Year Award,” of which she was the recipient, and the first bus driver from Brandon Valley to receive the honor.
Summoned by her alarm clock the past 40 years, Bill’s day began at 5 a.m., giving her ample time to prepare for her 6:40 a.m. departure from the bus garage. “You have to check the fluids and tires every trip,” she said. Her morning and afternoon routes took her 22 miles around the countryside, beginning on Maple Street past the Big Sioux Rec Area toward Isaac Walton, down Six Mile Road and then to The Bluffs.
“It’s a hilly route, but it was the prettiest of the routes I think,” Bill said.
In between those routes, Bill drove the midday kindergarten route, picking up youngsters from the southwest side of the school district.
For the most part, Route 9 has remained the same, Bill said, and so have the names and faces on her route. “All of the kids I’ve gotten to know and the parents,” she said, “I’ve been real fortunate.”
And as much as Bill admits she misses the kids, it seems they in turn share those same sentiments. “I had a kid come up to me the other day and say, ‘You used to be my bus driver,’ ” she said. That simple acknowledgement, she said, was greatly appreciated.
In her 40 years behind the wheel, Bill said she has just one regret.
“I should’ve started writing a book a long time ago,” she said, “because no two days are the same.”
And it’s the kids, she said, who kept her behind the wheel for 40 years.
“You don’t ever want to try the job if you don’t like kids,” she advises. “Because that’s who you’re with all of the time.”
IF YOU GO
What: Retirement party for Carolyn Bill
When: Sunday, Dec. 13
Time: 1 to 4 p.m.
Where: Brandon Valley Transportation Center, 812 E. Redwood Blvd.
Refreshments will be served. The public is invited.
|
Carolyn Bill concluded a 40-year career of driving bus for the Brandon Valley School District last month. The Brandon woman covered route 9 all of those years and also responsible for the midday kindergarten route. Photo by Jill Meier |  |
Recent Stories
