Passion drove school bus driver for 30 years

Lyonel Doherty

Aberdeen Publishing

Beverley Leclerc couldn’t help but be more than a school bus driver for 30 years. That’s because the job required her to be every kid’s mom, counsellor and nurse at the same time.

“If your blood isn’t orange, you’re never going to be a good bus driver,” she said, only three days away from retirement from School District No. 53. (She retires July 3.)

The transportation assistant teared up when she spoke about her father being a professional truck driver hauling ore on the Alaska Highway.

As one of six kids in the family, she was behind the wheel of a vehicle from the time she could hold onto one.

“My dad was extremely proud of what he did, and he never left the house without saying goodbye and saying he loved us.”

That passion for transportation definitely rubbed off on her, so she made it her career as well.

“It’s something you are born with, it’s a passion. These kids are the job, it’s not the paycheque or anything else.”

She remembers her mother saying a prayer every morning for all of the bus drivers who transport the world’s most precious cargo.

This huge responsibility meant never letting your guard down for a second. But when you’re green, some people want a good laugh after a hard day.

Leclerc will never forget the time a basketball coach and his team said they wanted food at a drive-thru.

“He said all the other bus drivers do it.”

So, she did it . . . or tried to, but soon realized the bus wouldn’t fit. Therefore, she had to back out of the drive-thru. Of course, all of the other drivers behind her had to back out as well.

“They (everyone on the bus) were killing themselves laughing.”

Another prank by a couple of colleagues involved a call about a little girl who wanted to bring a humongous stuffed animal on the bus.

“The rule was if you couldn’t put it on your lap then you can’t bring it on the bus,” Leclerc said.

She was asked to phone the parents to meet them at the bus stop to pick up the toy.

“I’m picturing this little girl crying because it was probably show and tell (at school).”

However, once she contacted the parent, she was told it was an April Fool’s joke.

One time a kid crawled underneath the seats and popped a balloon right behind her while she was driving. Needless to say, she had to read the kid the Riot Act over that incident.

Leclerc said children can read adults very quickly. In fact, they can tell whether you care about them in about three seconds.

And they will tell you everything, she pointed out.

She recalled one teenage girl who confessed that she was drinking alcohol at a party. Out of concern, Leclerc asked a school counsellor to talk to the girl about the dangers of alcohol. The next time the girl got on the bus, she said, “You ratted me out!” But Leclerc explained that she cared about the girl’s safety.

All of the students on the bus knew that if Leclerc was driving them to school, they better be in school.

One day she caught two students guilty of truancy; they started running when they saw her, and she literally took off after them, running like a track star (well, almost).

“I said I won’t say anything if you get back in school right now. And they did.”

One kid on her bus never smiled. So she started calling him “Smiley.” Years later she found out that the boy came from a challenged home. Leclerc was told that the highlight of his day was getting on her school bus.

When asked if she observed many changes in kids’ behaviour over the years, she said: “Kids are kids. It’s we as society that have changed and our expectations.”

Questionable drivers on the road?

Plenty.

Yes, Leclerc has seen it all. Even drivers who purposely steer into the ditch to avoid stopping for the red flashing lights.

The name Edgar Scheer always has a place in Leclerc’s heart. Who will ever forget that name?

He was the hero bus driver in Osoyoos who kept calm and cool during a nightmare hijacking in 1996.

Leclerc remembered hearing Scheer communicating over the radio that his bus was being hijacked by two armed teenagers. Luckily, the standoff ended without anyone getting hurt, and Leclerc attributes that to Scheer.

“Anything can happen in a split second,” she said, so she always prepared for the worst.

As Leclerc heads back to Whitehorse to be with family, fellow bus driver Pat Somerville reflects on his mentor.

“She is just something else .  . . she makes you feel good about yourself.”

Somerville said Leclerc has always been very protective of every bus driver in the district.

“She starts the day off with a smile and ends it with a smile .  . . she makes everything so much easier (here).”

Somerville said Leclerc didn’t mention the fact that she saved a bus driver’s life one day. The driver had just finished his shift and Leclerc wondered why he didn’t come into the shop. A few minutes later she found him still sitting in the bus, suffering from a stroke. She then rushed him to the hospital for treatment.

“As far as we’re concerned, she saved him from dying (that day),” Somerville said.