Applauding the drivers of the yellow school bus

Dear Editor,

Having family in Broken Bow and elsewhere in Nebraska, I read the fine article on a dedicated school-bus driver: “Handing in the keys after 31 years” (April 15 issue). I have to applaud Carmen Finney for her many years of service safely driving schoolchildren back and forth, in all types of weather, in the classic yellow school bus.

My own first-cousin Charlene Marples Baenen, started driving school buses years ago in Washington State and she loved it. When I was growing up in Rose Hill, Kan., a Wichita suburb, we had yellow school buses. I never needed to ride the school bus since my parents back-fence bordered the K-12 school grounds. That school is pretty unique in having “all the grades all on one big acreage.

The only times when I did ride a yellow school bus, were the times when our school band (I played trumpet) would journey to neighboring towns for out-of-town football/basketball games or if our band had to go to a regional “band contest.”

Again, I applaud dedicated school bus drivers.

James Marple Longview, Texas