After kicking off his career as a truck driver for his father’s company, hauling cheese and livestock, Jerry Davis spent over five decades driving the yellow bus, and just recently hung up his keys.

Davis, formerly a school bus driver for Lamers Bus Lines in Darlington, Wis., initially ventured into transporting more precious cargo in 1967, he told School Bus Fleet, when he began driving a school bus on a route serving the Darlington School District for Al’s Trucking. Davis also drove a special-needs bus from 1996 to 2014, when Lamers Bus Lines bought Al’s Trucking’s bus contract.

What he enjoyed most about his work, Davis said, was being with the students and transporting them to and from school safely.

“I can honestly say I loved my job, and it was very rewarding,” he said.

The biggest challenges, he added, were taking the driving test and driving in the heavy snow and ice during the winters of the upper midwestern state.

Davis noted that the safety equipment on the buses today has evolved significantly since he first got behind the wheel in the late sixties, and that wheelchair accommodations and wheelchair lifts have greatly improved.

Davis officially retired on Aug. 17, 2020.