NEISD bus driver reaches 50-year milestone

Seventy-three-year-old David St. Clair loves to spend his free time playing cards with his friends.

When he is not shuffling a deck of cards, St. Clair is busy shuffling students to where they need to go.

"I think that a bus driver that has been around for at least six months or more, they are there because they enjoy it and they want to do a good job. They want to take the kids to school and get them there safely,” he said.

St. Clair has been doing just that for five decades!

“I’ve been driving a bus for fifty years; I’ve enjoyed forty-nine and a half of those years," he joked.

"Actually the whole time really, it’s been a joy. I enjoy working with kids,” he said.

He said that as a bus driver, there is more to it than just steering the wheel.

“The number one thing is to drive a safe bus. You are having to watch traffic and make sure you are not getting into any accidents. At the same time, you have to monitor the kids and make sure they are behaving. You have to make sure that they are not doing things that will get them hurt,” St. Clair added.

And he’s made plenty of memories along the way.

“I’ve actually had kids that rode my bus as a first-grader, that rode for twelve years and then they grew up, got married, had their own kids, and I’ve driven their kids!”

He expects to drive for another four of five years then plans to retire and travel in his R-V with his wife.

“It’s a gratifying thing; I really enjoy doing it,” he said.

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