My father was also a bus driver when I was growing up in the 40’s and 50’s. He drove for a small independent bus lines called Coastal Coaches, Inc. It was owned by a man named W. P. Fite who lived in Galveston.
We lived in Beaumont. My dad’s run was from Beaumont to Galveston and back 6 days a week. There was also an afternoon run from Beaumont to Galveston, driven by a man named Curtis.
It was not a union company. My dad got a plaque every 5 years without being involved in a wreck, or getting a moving violation. When he retired, his record was unbroken.
In order for each of the drivers to have one day a week off, they would drive both runs on one day, so the other driver could have that day off. My dad pulled the double run on Tuesdays, and Curtis pulled both on Wednesdays.
Even that long ago, he was adamantly against joining a union. I don’t know why. I know his pay was $55./wk—so we didn’t live very high on the hog—LOL! I have 2 brothers, so we were a family of 5. Greyhound tried to hire him on several occasions which would have meant more money and better perks—he never had a paid vacation day—we never went on a vacation. We never felt poor—my mom was a great cook and could do a lot with very little.
We didn’t have a car, so he was allowed to bring his bus home. One night a black child had gone to sleep on his bus and didn’t get off at his stop. When dad got home, he walked through the bus throwing out the trash, etc. as he always did, and discovered the child sleeping.
He woke him up and got a phone number to call the parents and tell them he would bring him back the next day, and that dad would take care of him until he was safely home.
We didn’t have a spare bed in the house, so Mom was making him a pallet on the floor, and the kid said he wanted to sleep in the bus where he was comfortable. Dad finally agreed, but he slept out there with him. I think the kid was about 8 or 9 yrs old.
Can you imagine this situation today!
Sorry I got long winded, but this is one of many memories I have of my dad, and for some reason, I was thinking about him today. He died in the early 60’s of a heart attack. I’m sorry that my children don’t have a lot of memories of him.
Mari
Don’t apologize. You’re dad sounds like he was a genuine American and a true Christian. May he rest in peace.
He woke him up and got a phone number to call the parents and tell them he would bring him back the next day, and that dad would take care of him until he was safely home.
We didn’t have a spare bed in the house, so Mom was making him a pallet on the floor, and the kid said he wanted to sleep in the bus where he was comfortable. Dad finally agreed, but he slept out there with him. I think the kid was about 8 or 9 yrs old.
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Great memory of your dad and his absence of bias back in those days. I grew up in Dallas in the ‘40-50’s and observed my grandparents being very kind to the black customers at their corner grocery. I would often carry the sack of groceries from the store to the black ladies’ homes a few blocks away, during the Summer when I spent weeks there. There was no “general” divide between whites and blacks back then. .....The divide began with JFK and LBJ, pushed by the GOP, to enact the so-called Cival Rights Act, which began the great racial divisions we endure today. jmo
Thanks for sharing a heartfelt story about your Dad. It’s true, that’s the way things were back in those days. You could find kind people all over, and it wasn’t out of the ordinary. People weren’t as self-absorbed as we seem to be these days. Self-reliance was commonplace.
There were riots in the black section of our communities. My family offered shelter to their black help and their families, for weeks. These were good working class people who were caught up in the power struggles of a different kind.