Jim Vermillion, who recently retired from Jay School Corp. in Portland, Ind., is pictured here on the day he got his last new school bus, a 2009 Blue Bird unit — one of the operation's first air-conditioned models. Photo courtesy of Jay School Corp.
PORTLAND, Ind. — Veteran school bus driver Jim Vermillion, 81, hung up his keys last month after 60 years behind the wheel.
Vermillion won rights to his first bus route in 1951 in Jay County, Ind. Vermillion bid on two buses — one old and one new — in order to drive in the Madison Township. He won the old bus: a 1937 International.
“You were lucky if you could get warmed by those buses,” Vermillion told SBF in an interview. “There wasn’t any power steering and no women drivers. You had to change your own tires and we didn’t have two-way radios then.” He won his bus on a $4 bid, where the township paid $4 a day, once a month, from Labor Day to the beginning of May.
During the day between his 15-minute morning and afternoon routes, Vermillion spent his time farming, which is how he heard about the bids opening up. “I farmed for one of the trustees of the township and he asked if I would put a bid in,” he explained. Vermillion had only been out of high school for a few years when he started, making it easy to get along with the riders since he knew them or their families.
The township’s school system, which had six routes at about 250 students, was taken over by Jay School Corp., which had its first graduating class in the spring of 1976.
“He’s hauled four generations of families,” said Teresa Myers, who has been transportation director of Jay School Corp. since 1998, but has been with the operation and worked with Vermillion since 1991.
Myers told SBF that Vermillion never had problems keeping kids in their seats. “If there was a problem on the bus he took care of it,” she said. “Usually if a parent called, they just wanted to call and reinforce whatever Jim did.”
Never noticing any behavioral problems over the years, Vermillion and Myers say this is due to country living. In comparison to the city, they say, rural schoolchildren often have more responsibilities after school, such as helping their parents with the farm.
“I never had a major problem at all, and if I did I probably wouldn’t have lasted quite this long,” Vermillion said.
While he never had trouble with the children, his only struggle, as it is for other drivers in the area, was dealing with the weather. Since Jay School Corp. serves such a large area, fog or snow on one part of the county could mean getting everyone to school a little late.
The Jay School Corp. transportation staff presented Vermillion with this birthday cake last year. Now 81, he hung up his keys in June after 60 years behind the wheel. Photo courtesy of Jay School Corp.
Myers couldn’t say enough about how she will miss Vermillion. “When a guy has driven a school bus longer than you are old it’s hard to say anything bad. I wish they could all be more like Jim with his attitude,” she said, adding that his attendance was impeccable. “When his wife passed, we couldn’t even get him to take consecutive days off,” she said.
Myers even named a shop truck after him. “For years, Jim — every morning when he got done — would get in the shop truck and buy donuts,” she said. “He’d go buy them and bring them back, and everyone would break.” So, when Jay School Corp. bought a new shop truck, Myers had a sign made that reads, “Jim’s Donut Truck.”
His favorite kind of donut? “Hot or cold, any kind, any time,” Vermillion laughed. He also likes to play cards with co-workers, friends and family. And after 60 years on the road, Vermillion spends his days catching up on many years of early rising: He is spending his retirement sleeping. He even wanted to make sure that his interview with SBF was in the afternoon so he could get his full morning’s worth of rest.