This article was published in the Jan. 3, 2018 issue of the Interlake Enterprise…
Seventy-year-old Percy Marks of Bifrost-Riverton is in his fiftieth year driving school bus for the Evergreen School Division (ESD), a job he initially took because the hours fit in well with farm life.
Back in April, 2016 he had been inducted into the Evergreen Foundation of Manitoba Hall of Fame. He received accolades for being and exemplary role model to both students and parents, in addition to being the school division’s longest serving employee at that time.
Past the official retirement age, he opted instead to continue and still cannot foresee retirement. He plans to continue driving bus as long as he passes his required annual medical exams.
“They give you a new pin at the end of every five years. I don’t know what they’ll give me at the end of 50 years,” Marks mused.
Aside from farming, driving school bus was Marks’ very first job, and one he said he has always enjoyed.
“I like being with the kids, and I believe they all like me,” he said during an interview at his home over the Christmas break.
His granddaughter, fifteen-year-old Alyssa who was visiting for the holidays, had been riding the school bus with her grandfather from the age of five up until last year.
“He was the best bus driver,” she said. “He never really yelled. He always said good morning. Kids smile when you give them a smile,” she added.
“I get along good with the kids,” Marks said, explaining his approach. “If there’s problems with the kids, I take them aside and talk to them. I never wrote up a kid.”
Marks started driving bus in 1968. It was bus number13, he recalled. His route covered the area spanning the communities of Finns, Geysir, Arborg, and later Gimli, picking up only 12 or 13 in those days. After a time, he was given Route 24, a route north of Riverton which some of the other drivers found challenging.
“They told me I wouldn’t last two weeks because the kids were so bad,” said Marks in a matter of fact, yet kindly tone. “I never had any trouble with them. They were a great bunch of kids.”
“If you want to be respected you have to respect the kids,” Marks emphasized.
One of the most memorable moments of his career happened along that route, in fact. Marks remembered back to the year 1974 when the weather was fine south of Riverton, but not so fine further north. He recounted being on the backroads with a full bus load of children in blizzard conditions.
“It was two or three miles north. It was storming,” Marks remembered.
Conditions were so bad that the bus got stuck in a drift. Fortunately, one of the parents had a Cat and dug them out.
“Then he took all the kids into his house, about 30 of them, and gave them hot chocolate,” Marks said.
According to Marks, winter roads have been his only real challenge throughout the 50 years on the job.
“It’s been good otherwise. Its nice to be able to drive your grand children to school. I drove the kids, then their kids, and then their grand kids,” he said. “I know the whole family.”
Today, Marks drives bus 28, which runs from Rd.124N up to Riverton. If you see him, you might want to check out his smile. You might even give a little nod or a wave for a job well done.
