“‘Big Yeller”

This evening while Alexander the Great Kahunkadunk and I were out for our evening constitutional a big yellow school bus rolled by. Upon seeing it I began to remember back to the years 1957-62 when I drove a school bus for School District #51 in Grand Junction Colorado. I was attending Intermountain Bible College. Since a number of the male students were bus drivers classes did not start until 9:00 am. And as soon as I was able to get a regular route I joined the ranks of the school bus drivers.

We all thought we were men, but we were just boys fresh out of high school. No district in their right mind would have hired such a bunch of guys to work for $1.50 an hour, four hours a day. But I can say with a measure of pride that during the years that we drove none of us had any accidents nor were any children harmed that were in our care. I can assure you that there were a number of Junior Highers we would have like to whomped on, but we didn't.

The IBC gang of drivers consisted of Merv Johnson, the oldest of the group, who was married and had two children. Then there was Gene Talbott and Kenny Egbert, both boys from Delta, Colorado. Vernon Hollett, now a missionary on the Navajo Reservation and Harry Scates, who is a lifetime missionary in Brazil and finally myself, rounded out the group. Ben Spitzer, an elder in the Clifton Christian Church, was the bus driver's supervisor.

Except for changing oil, we did all the other maintenance on the buses. We washed them regularly with hose and soap and water regardless of the weather. A good looking bus was a matter of pride. We fueled them up and maintained the inside as well. My way of cleaning my bus was to open two back windows, open the front door, and let the wind carry the trash out to the outer world. I'm afraid I wasn't very citizen minded, but it was a quick and easy way to clean the bus.

All of the young men mentioned entered the ministry. I went on to become a college professor. Harry Scates and Vernon Hollett would become lifetime missionaries and remain so to this day. Gene Talbott and Kenny Egbert became ministers in the Conservative Baptist church. Merv Johnson never graduated from college but was faithful and successful in ministry up to the time of his retirement.