‘There was no question what I was going to do’
School bus driver steps up for one of his passengers
The moment that bus driver Larry Farrish Jr. pulled up to one of his morning stops in Louisville, he knew something was amiss with one of his passengers.
“He was sitting by himself with his hood over his head, and he never does that,” Farrish recalled of that Feb. 9 morning.
“Normally, he’s so happy, and he’s out there waving me in like I’m parking an airplane,” he said. “So it was obvious to me that something was wrong.”
The child, a first-grader named Levi, was in tears as he climbed aboard the school bus.
“I asked him, ‘Hey, buddy, what’s wrong?’ and he told me he didn’t have any pajamas for pajama day,” Farrish said. “His school was having a special day where kids could wear their pajamas all day.”
Levi made his way to a seat, and Farrish checked his rearview mirror to keep an eye on Levi for the rest of the bus ride, he said.
“I saw Levi sitting back there alone, away from his friends, and there was no question what I was going to do,” he said, adding, “I didn’t want him to miss out on pajama day.”
After he dropped off Levi and about 40 other students at Engelhard Elementary School, Farrish decided to run a quick errand. He drove to a nearby Family Dollar store to pick out some new pajamas for Levi.
“I bought two pairs that I thought were his size — a brown and white pair with footballs and basketballs, and a fleecy gray pair of bottoms with a gray, white and blue top,” said Farrish, 35.
“Levi has five siblings at home, so if he didn’t need two pairs, I figured somebody else in the family could use them,” he said.
Farrish took the pajamas to the school and went into the front office to explain to an office assistant that he was Levi’s bus driver and what had happened that morning.
“She called for Levi [to come to the office] and when he came down the hallway and saw me, his face lit up,” he said. “He said, ‘Hey, you’re my bus driver!’ ”
Farrish said he told him, “‘Hey, little man, I’ve got some pajamas here for you — would you like to try them on in class?’ ”
“He was just glowing, he was so happy,” he said. “He gave me a hug, then he walked back to class, hugging those pajamas. I was in tears.”
Principal Ryan McCoy said he wasn’t surprised to learn about Farrish’s sweet gesture.
“Mr. Larry is a great person and bus driver who truly cares about the students he drives and intentionally builds relationships with them,” he said. “The smile on Levi’s face when Mr. Larry showed up at school with the pajamas says it all.”
Jefferson County Public Schools posted about Farrish’s kindness on its website, then made a post on Facebook, prompting hundreds of comments, including from former students:
“Mr. Larry is the absolute best. We were blessed with him as our driver for 4 years. Top notch human,” someone commented.
Farrish said he never expected to love his job as much as he does. He was a truck driver before he took the job driving a school bus seven years ago, he said.
“I love talking to the kids and encouraging them,” he said. “I probably learn as much from them as they do from me. They help keep me young.”
He and Levi often greet each other by mimicking Spider-Man’s three-finger signature, which the superhero uses when he shoots web silk from his hands, Farrish said.
“I don’t have kids, so I enjoy interacting with Levi and the other kids on the bus and hearing about what’s going on in their day,” he said. “My job is to get them to school safe, but I also hope I have a small impact on their lives.”
On the Jefferson County
Public Schools website, Levi is quoted saying he “did a happy cry” when Farrish brought him the pajamas. “I can tell Mr. Larry is nice and his heart is filled with joy,” he said.
Farrish said he was planning to accompany Levi’s mother and her family on a shopping spree for new clothing, courtesy of Southend Street Angels. The Louisville nonprofit raised almost $600 in donations from the public for Levi and his siblings.