SPENCER, Wis. — “I didn’t have any sisters, but I have seven brothers and they all drove trucks at one point or another,” Marge Schulz says. “Driving was just in me, and I love it.”

After a 39-year career as a bus driver, first for Spencer School District and then for its contractor, Burnett Transit, Schulz recently retired without a single accident or traffic violation.

Schulz, 67, took great pride in working for Burnett Transit, where she says she always had a nice bus to drive, including eight new ones throughout her career.

The family-owned business is currently run by Joe Burnett. “They are just great people to work with,” Schulz says. “Mary, Joe’s mother, was always a big factor in my life because she was just so caring. She was like a second mother to me.”

Aside from the “thrill of being up in the air,” Schulz’s love for children is what initially attracted her to school bus driving.

“The kids would come on the bus crying, and I would give them a grandma-hug and it would make it all better,” she says.

Though Schulz considers all of the kids she drove to be her own, she and her husband Wayne have six children, 18 grandchildren and four great-grandchildren.

Schulz attributes her perfect driving record to mastering the balancing act of controlling the bus and the children at the same time. “You must always keep your eyes moving and don’t follow too close so you can get away in case something happens in front of you,” Schulz says. “Be very alert and know the rules of the road.”

Though retired from driving, there is no sign of Schulz slowing down. She plans to volunteer at church and with the schools in the area. She may help out in the office at Burnett’s as well.

“I just love life, that’s all there is to it,” Schulz says. “It’s been great. I’m just amazed at all of the people I’ve known through the years who kept me going.”