Even though it's been nearly 50 years since Harley McKinney retired as transportation supervisor for the Siloam Springs School District, his influence lives on in the impact he had on the students he drove to and from school.
Today the Siloam Springs School District boasts 45 buses and transports more than 1,700 kids twice a day on 33 routes. But it wasn't always that way in McKinney's day. The department has more than quadrupled in size over the past 60 years.
In the 1950s, the district had only 12 buses that transported children on 12 routes. Each bus transported a maximum of about 50 students compared to modern buses that can transport 77 students. Students who lived inside the city limits walked to school and students who rode the buses contended with rough country roads and no heat in the winter.
McKinney's daughter, Marilyn Hall of Siloam Springs, was about 11 when her father started driving a school bus in 1951. By 1953 or 1954, her dad had worked his way up to transportation supervisor, a title he held until he had to retire for health reasons in 1968. He died shortly afterwards.
Hall recalls that her family lived inside the city limits so she had to walk to school. In those days only students who lived outside of town were able to ride the bus.
Her elementary school was located on the site of the former police station near city hall on Mount Olive Street. She would walk to the high school located on Tulsa Street, which was closer to her home, and ride the bus to the elementary school, she said.
Hall said her father was very strict as a bus driver and didn't allow any loud talking. Anytime he stopped the bus, stood up, put his hands on the overhead railing and rolled his eyes, Hall knew what was coming next -- a stern lecture. She would slide down in her seat and pretend she didn't know her dad at all.
"I could wrap him around my finger, but he was very strict," she said with a shy smile.
Her husband Bill, six years her elder, recalls that McKinney kicked him off the school bus for fighting with his brother during his junior year.
"I got even," he said with wink and a hearty laugh, "I married his daughter."
Roger Osbourn began riding on McKinney's bus route in first grade, which encompassed part of the same route he drives today for the school district. His lifelong friend Phil Smith, who rode with him on the bus in elementary school, is also a bus driver.
"We spent many years together riding with Harley and here we are today, both of us driving a school bus for Siloam Springs," he said.
He also described McKinney as stern and said the students were a little afraid of him. If they got too rowdy, McKinney would turn the inside lights on and if they continued he would pull over.
"We could tell how mad he was at us by how hard he jerked the parking brake," Osbourn said.
The students would receive a lecture on the danger of distracting McKinney while he was driving the bus. Today Osbourn understands the responsibility on McKinney's shoulders, but at the time he just wanted to get home to watch the Little Rascals and drink some chocolate milk.
Osbourn remembers that McKinney bought all of the students huge paper wrapped Red Delicious Apples for Christmas each year. He would also take them to Barnett's Dairyette and give them 35 cents at the end of each school year.
"Hey, you could get a malt, a shake, a big sundae, even a hamburger and fries for 35 cents back then," he said.
McKinney also served as the Siloam Springs Fire Chief, Osbourn said. One night he brought a fire truck to the senior high football game. The firefighters were passing out red plastic firemen's hats to kids. Osbourn said his love and respect for McKinney grew after that night.
"Our little group of boys were so proud of Harley and we stood around telling folks, 'That's our bus driver,' and you know, that night is when I found out just how kind and caring he was with kids."
When Osbourn was in seventh grade the district got a new bus with an air pocket manufactured in the middle of the right-side windshield. McKinney trusted him enough that he taught him how to kick out the windshield in case of an emergency.
"Today I cherish his memory," he said. "I wish I could tell him today what an influence he was in my life... I love my kids (that ride the bus) and I'm sure Harley loved us too. There will never be a day that I drive my bus that I don't think of Harley McKinney."
Bill Davis, who served as the school's transportation department director from 1968 to 1990, began working for McKinney in 1956 as a bus driver. The following year he became a mechanic for the bus shop.
Davis said he was paid $75 a month when he started working for the district, but pointed out that prices were in line with wages and a person could still buy a loaf of bread for a nickel or a dime.
In those days the transportation director was responsible for mechanic work, driving a bus route and everything else, often putting in 12-hour work days, Davis said.
Working for the Siloam Springs Transportation Department has become a family tradition for the Davis family. Bill's wife, Grace Davis, drove a bus for many years as did his daughter, Linda DeMoss. His son, Roger Davis, currently works as a mechanic for the district.
In the early years, Davis and Hall remember McKinney staying at work late into the night to repair buses so they could be used the following morning because there were no extra buses to run the routes.
Before the bus barns were built in the mid 1950s, McKinney would do the mechanic work on the buses in the front yard of the school on Mount Olive Street, his son-in-law said. The original bus barn is still in use as a maintenance building behind Southside Elementary -- once the sight of the high school building.
Hall recalled that her father would get up about 4:30 a.m. on snowy days to check the roads. He was always up and long-gone to work before it was time for her to get up for school, she said.
In the winter, the buses didn't have heat and would frost over on the inside, Davis said. By the time Davis became transportation director the standards had changed and who lived within a mile of the school weren't allowed to ride the bus because they could walk to school.
When the school district bought new buses, Davis recalls that McKinney would order the chassis from a local Ford dealer. He would then have to drive down to Conway to get the body put on the bus. The bus chassis didn't even have windshields or seats so McKinney would have to sit on a little wooden box as he drove the approximately 190 miles on two-lane highways.
"At least one time out of 10 we had rain," Davis said with a laugh.
In the 1950s and 1960s many of the roads were dirt and much rougher than modern dirt roads. Davis said they couldn't keep springs on a bus back then and several bus frames broke in half from the effects of the rough roads.
The buses still transported sports teams all over the state to destinations such as Searcy, Hot Springs and Mountain Home.
Hall described her father as a natural mechanic. Davis agreed that, like his predecessor, mechanic work was also his favorite part of the job. The bus barn staff did everything from rebuilding engines to changing tires, Davis said. In fact, they built four or five engines every summer.
"It was fun, I'd like to do it all over again," he said.
Davis said McKinney kept his shop perfectly clean and all of his tools had to be cleaned and put back in the box after they were used.
"Harley was just the finest man I ever worked with," Davis said. "We had a big time together. I learned a lot from him."
Davis saw the district grow to a total of 23 buses by the time he retired in 1990.
The school district started building its current transportation facility in 1995 and officially moved in 1997, according to Fleet Manager Kenny Thurman, who also graduated from Siloam Springs Schools.
Mechanic work is currently much different and buses are sent to outside repair shops for many tasks, he said. Back then, buses ran on gas while modern buses have diesel engines. Today's buses have air brakes while the older buses had hydraulic brakes, he said.
In the past 12 years the school district has added about one route per year and the fleet of buses has grown accordingly, Thurman said.
The district currently has eight spare buses, which might seem like a lot, but many times when the bus lot is completely empty it's because a couple of buses are in the shop and others gone to athletic events, Thurman said.
If her father could see what the transportation department has become, Hall said "he would be in awe."
General News on 09/02/2015