Hampton retires after 45 years behind the wheel
He was known as the singing bus driver and even ran for council once
UPPER ONSLOW, N.S. – He sang kids all the way to school from behind the steering wheel of his bus.
He sang "O Canada" before the hockey crowds at Colchester Legion Stadium.
But on Dec. 27, Stan Hampton of Upper Onslow will hang up his keys for the last time, after 45 years of washing vehicles and driving buses around town.
“It’s going to be nice to sit back, relax and enjoy a little time to myself and not have to worry about getting up, going to work and cleaning cars all day long – which I’ve totally enjoyed,” said Hampton, 65.
The only driving Hampton will do as a newly-minted retiree will be in his RV. He plans on taking his wife down to Hammonds Plains, to enjoy a relaxing local break.
However, he may yet have a crack at something he last tried nearly two decades ago: a run for council.
Hampton’s political philosophy is simple: no talk of making
anything great again here.
“With the way society is going in general, you’ve just got to try to do what you’ll do for people – you don’t promise anything,” said Hampton. “It never comes true, you just go as you go.”
One of his most cherished memories happened when the Truro Bearcats first started playing hockey in the 1990s. Just
before the puck drop, Hampton sang the national anthem before the crowds, every Saturday evening.
He eventually stopped singing "O Canada," as he wanted to give someone younger a chance.
But Hampton kept singing to schoolchildren as he drove them to classes each morning. His students attended the former St.
Mary’s and Princess Margaret Rose elementary schools. Both schools are now gone.
“I’d play the radio and sing along,” said Hampton. “A lot of kids didn’t like county. I’ve always been a country music fan.”
Nonetheless, some of Hampton’s students joined in the singing.
His bus driving sometimes took him beyond Truro to Halifax. There, he’d greet cruise ship passengers landing at the docks and drive them to various tourist attractions.
“I’ve always enjoyed the public,” said Hampton. “It’s the relationships, you get to know everyone’s attitude. You get to know how light-hearted and cheery some people are.”
Hampton’s career had humble beginnings in 1974, right around the time he turned 20.
He started by driving buses for Don Bartlett, who owned the Shell gas station that once stood on the corner of Queen and Walker streets in Truro.
On Saturday mornings, he would wash other vehicles at the former Wilson’s Equipment
Trucks and Vans building, where the Atlantic Superstore now stands in Truro. Hampton and his colleagues would often laugh and joke with each other as they hosed down vehicles.
It was a good way to learn on the job; Bartlett used to own the ambulances in town before the province took them over.
“Back in those days, you’d also work with the guys who drove ambulances,” recalled Hampton. “They weren’t called paramedics back then. They just had a little bit of first aid knowledge. It’s nothing like today.”
In 1992, Hampton took over Bartlett’s bus business and kept on cleaning vehicles when not behind the wheel. He kept the business until 2002.
In the 2000s, he carried on cleaning vehicles and driving buses, landing a full-time gig at Hollis Ford in Truro in March 2007. When the Truro News saw Hampton 10 days before his retirement, he was cleaning one such vehicle in the dealership’s garage.
“I got to know a lot of people,” said Hampton.