Amanuensis Monday ~ The Stories That Should Be Told, Part 19

The following transcription is from a series of recordings my father made in the early 1990s: 

School Bus Drivers:

Mr. Leo Nelson, Sr. (Leo Jr. took over the route years later)
Mr. Gillespie
Mr. Squyres (Abbott Pearson took over his route)
Mr. Evans
Bernice Wilkinson (Friley Guice drove her bus)
Mr. Dan Sumners (Cecil Sumners took over when Dan died)
Mr. Rogers (B. K. Miller took over his route)
Mr. Otis Moss

I remember when the school buses didn't have glass windows on the sides.  The sides were open and they had long pieces of canvas that ran along the length of the buses.  The canvas was rolled up and tied in the warm weather.  In the winter or when it was raining, the drivers would roll down the canvas to cover the openings.

The only time I rode a school bus was with the band.  We had a little band in the late 1930s and early 1940s.  Harrisonburg, Jonesville and Sicily Island had bands.  We'd ride the bus back and forth to practice with Jonesville and Harrisonburg before going off to band contests. 

One of my father's trumpets

We'd leave Sicily Island in the evening, pick up Harrisonburg on the way to Jonesville for practice.  Sometimes the practices were held in Harrisonburg or Sicily Island.  We had practice about twice a week before going off to contests in Baton Rouge, Alexandria and Monroe.  The three little bands played together and we had a pretty good band.

Note:  Parts 1-18 of 'The Stories That Should Be Told' can be found in the Tags List on the right-hand side of the blog.