OLIVESBURG — Lucille Boebel, Luanne Calame and Rebecca Bair will miss watching morning sunrises before starting the school bus in their driveway.
The trio of Crestview Local Schools bus drivers enjoyed these moments of calmness and beauty as they prepared to begin their daily routes.
Between the three, Boebel, Calame and Bair have more than 100 years of combined experience driving school buses.
On May 29, the district’s transportation department gathered at the bus garage to celebrate the trio’s retirement from their full-time positions — sharing laughs, cries and stories over lunch.
Boebel said she’s looking forward to summer’s arrival — but knows the emotions of retirement will eventually become realized.
“Right now, I’m not going to miss it because it’s summertime — but I will,” she said. “Just wait until they drive by my house this August.”
‘You’ll have to buy the book’
Earlier in life, Boebel, who also owns Bath & Bows Pet Grooming, was seeking a job where she could be home during the day with her children.
She had been working at Red Lobster for 12 years and was considering becoming a school cafeteria worker. A customer of her pet grooming business suggested an alternative route.
“He (customer) said ‘You should try to be a bus driver. Bus drivers are like gold. You’ll be like gold.’ That’s what he said,” Boebel explained.
Shortly after, Boebel began driving buses at Ontario Local Schools for 17 years. She’s spent the last 17 years of her career at Crestview.
Over the course of her career, Boebel has accumulated artwork, pictures and keepsakes from district students. Conversations and stories with her bus riders have perhaps been the most valuable.
“I have a lot of stories over the years and I’ve wrote most of them down. You’ll have to buy the book,” she said with a grin. “I’m adding to it all the time. I added to it a couple days ago.”
After more than three decades of watching students grow along their educational journey, driving them to extracurricular events and attending field trips, Boebel is looking forward to some rest and relaxation.
However, she’s not sure she’s ready to leave the wheel for good.
“I’ve been thinking about after I retire and things settle down, I might just come back and just do trips,” Boebel said. “Just to get back out there.”
Bair will miss students after driving 34 years
Mornings next school year will feel and sound a bit different for Bair. For the last decade, she’s began each day completing radio checks with Boebel.
Bair has driven buses at Crestview for 34 years. Interacting with students for more than three decades is what she said she’ll miss most.
“I just love the kids,” Bair said. “I drive like three routes all year, so I’ve had a lot of kids.”
“I love taking them on their trips to watch them — even though they’re not our kids. We enjoy watching them, cheering at their games and supporting them because they may not have a parent that even comes.”
Bus driver shortages have left districts — locally and nationwide — seeking solutions to attract workers into the profession.
Bair offered thoughts on some of the benefits of becoming a bus driver.
“It’s a great job,” Bair said. “I mean, if you want something that you work so many hours and you’re home with your kids, if you have kids, it’s a great job.”
Despite retiring from her full-time position, Bair plans to return next school year as a substitute driver.
Bus riders felt like family for Calame
Of the 35 years Calame has worked for Crestview Local Schools, she’s spent 33 driving a school bus.
Calame has watched generations of students enter and exit the doors of her bus. She said the kids have become more like her family.
“I’ve had the same route and same area for quite some time,” Calame said.
“When I first started, I had other routes. But I had their parents on my bus and now I have their kids on the bus, and some of those kids are even graduating.”
Tears began to form as Calame discussed another aspect of her daily routine she’ll miss.
“I love sunrises,” she said. “This is an awesome job because you can see the beauty of God, you know, all the sunrises. We even see the sunset when we make trips and stuff.”
Near the end of her career, Calame has been driving a preschool route, which has been both challenging and rewarding.
She said the students have helped keep her positive as the end of the school year approached.
“It’s (preschool route) really fun… a lot of them had to give me hugs, you know, going to summer break — which they don’t realize I’m not coming back,” Calame said.
She added her grandchildren attend Crestview Local Schools, so she hopes to see her former bus riders at sporting events and different school-related activities.
