CARLETON, N.S. — He may come across as a rough, gruff guy but newly retired bus driver Wayne Hurlburt has a heart of gold.
“He just doesn’t want to show it, but once that smile comes out, it lights up a room,” Carleton principal Dwayne Landry told the student assembly gathered to bid Hurlburt farewell on Dec. 20.
“Bus drivers are certainly people I have tremendous respect for because you set the tone for the morning, you keep all this precious cargo safe – bring them to school – and you bring them back home,” says Landry.
Hurlburt was hired April 1, 1977 and drove 42 years, mostly for Carleton School and Maple Grove Education Centre.
Dale Royal, co-ordinator of transportation, says Hurlburt had impeccable attendance (except during ox haul finals, teased Royal) and was a conscientious driver.
When asked if he had any funny memories, Hurlburt says there wasn’t too much funny on his bus.
“I was a pretty stern guy with the kids. Usually If they were having fun I thought they were raising hell.”
Though there was one that one time…
“Six or eight years ago there was two little boys sitting behind me on the bus,” Hurlburt says. “One of them said to the other one, ‘How old do you think Wayne is?’ The other one said, ‘Oh, I don’t know but he’s got to be old. He hauled my grandmother on the bus so he’s got to be at least 100.’ That kind of made me laugh.”
On a more sobering note, there is the memory of the time slippery roads caused a collision.
“It had snowed and rained and turned back to snow and I met a lady coming down over a hill.
“She put her brakes on and went across the road and hit me head on. It drove the front of the bus into the ditch and the hind wheels followed and the bus rolled over on its side.
Thankfully, I only had older kids on.
“One kid climbed out and said, ‘Holy s___, Wayne, that was a bad one!’”
Hurlburt was presented with a school hoodie and staff have a medal on order for him.
His passengers lined up to give him hugs at the end, after all the students sang Happy Birthday to him, as the next day was his birthday.
“It’s been a long road and a fulfilling one. I’ve had some ups and downs as anyone would doing this job, but I survived and my kids survived. That’s what counts,” says Hurlburt.
Now that he’s retired, he plans on doing more work in the woods, cutting logs and firewood. It’s something he’s done for as long as he’s driven a bus.
“I’m going to continue to do that as long as I’m able.”
He’s looking forward to not having to worry about getting in the school bus and leaving his house at 21 minutes after 7 on weekdays during the school year.
