[Granville-Hough] 22 Aug 2009 - The old school bus

[Trustees for Granville W. Hough]

The old school bus.

I remember Cousins Lillian and Clemmie Sullivan very well from my first 
school days.  I started to school in January, 1929, when I was just past 
6 years old.  My brother, Harold, was the school bus driver, and a 
Senior in High School.  I would go with him as he picked up all the 
children between the railroad and the old Mize-Magee Road from the 
Simpson County line to Mize.  Our first stop was the Henderson and 
Toodie Sullivan home on the county line, where we picked up Lillian, 
Chapman, and Clemmie.  I would get to sit between Lillian and Clemmie, 
and on cold mornings, Lillian would cuddle me up and keep me warm.  That 
was most comforting.  Our school bus was a T-Model truck to which my 
father had attached a home-built body with wooden seats down the sides, 
and a row seat down the middle.  The school bus route was bid for 
annually, and I suppose the lowest bidder got the route.  Our T-model 
truck wore out, and we never bid for the school route again.

    My brother Harold Hough, the driver, was a handsome six-footer whom 
the Sullivan girls loved to tease.  They were his classmates, and knew 
all about his girl friends.  I recall the name they mentioned as his 
chief girl friend as something like Gertrude Glisson.  Amidst all this 
giggly banter, we would pick up McAlpins, Walkers, Yelvertons, Lacks, 
Toneys, Allens, Austins, Hughes, Byrds, and Owens, and finally get to 
Mize Grammer School, where the grade school kids debarked, then the big 
kids were taken up the long hill to the Smith County Agricultural High 
School. 

It was not in the contract to pick up any children within two miles of 
school, but I remember that most bus drivers would pick up the children 
on cold or rainy days.  It was just the neighborly thing to do.  The 
next thing I remember about school buses were that they were all yellow 
metal frames, but with the same seat arrangements.  I think they came in 
when Newell McAlpin became County Superintendent of Education.  His 
brother, Drummond McAlpin was our driver for one or more years.