Eastern bus driver logs 50 years behind the wheel

May 23—GREENTOWN — Multiple calls were placed into Eastern's transportation department one morning last week.

The calls came from concerned parents on John Echelbarger's route. Their kids hadn't been picked up.

It was unusual. Echelbarger isn't known to be late. But this was a rare moment. His bus had a minor break down, putting him a few minutes behind.

"To my knowledge, I've never been late, I've never overslept," Echelbarger said.

He was a young farmer when his neighbor asked if he wanted to take over his bus route. The neighbor had a year left.

It was a side gig Echelbarger could fit into his schedule. And it was additional money. He agreed to it.

"Over the years, bus has put a lot of milk and bread on the table," Echelbarger said. "The thing I did like about it when I was farming was the break I got in the afternoon."

He'd drive his route, swing by home and get a snack from his wife Linda and head back to the fields.

The mostly rural route starts at his place. It's the one with the bus out front, north of the Howard County Fairgrounds.

He's awake by 5 a.m. In the bus by 7 a.m.

Monday through Friday. Like clockwork.

He travels up North 850 East until he reaches 400 North. Then, it's into Plevna and south on 800 East.

"They have really thinned out in the county," Echelbarger said.

Mr. John, as he's known by some of the kids on his route, has done this for 50 years.

And he has no plans of retiring.

Safe, strict, kind

Fifty years of driving a bus in a small town means it's only natural Echelbarger has had kids of kids on his bus. He's had third generation kids, too, multiple times.

That includes Kayla Keith's kids. Her kids ride Echelbarger's bus home in the afternoon.

Keith and her siblings rode his bus until they were old enough to drive. So did their mom.

"He was the strictest bus driver," Keith said. "You couldn't stand up. You couldn't switch seats. We were only allowed gum, not food."

It might have been a drag as a kid, but motherhood offers a different perspective.

Keith's kids are not technically on Echelbarger's route, but she requested they ride home on his bus.

"As a mom, I said, 'We're riding the safest bus,'" she said.

Keith's family has old home videos from when she was a child. Some feature Echelbarger picking her up and dropping her off.

"We love him," Keith said. "Nice guy. Cares about your kids. You can put them on his bus, and you don't have to worry."

No nonsense

Despite driving for nearly a lifetime, Echelbarger said the job hasn't changed all that much.

Driving the bus requires a commercial driver's license and continuing education each summer. Echelbarger didn't need a CDL when he started.

What's changed the most is discipline. Echelbarger can still kick a student off his bus, just not mid-route. There was a time when he could, though.

Like the time he removed a student, and they had to walk two miles home. It was the days before radios and cell phones.

Echelbarger called the child's grandpa when he got home. The grandpa supported the decision.

"He told me, 'That's fine, if he acts up again, make him walk again,'" Echelbarger recalled. "That was a way to let students know that I meant business."

Falling asleep and missing one's stop was also a surefire way to end up walking home.

It happened to Keith.

"He was like, 'Oh you should have been awake,'" she said. "He wasn't going to back up and take me home."

Do not trash Echelbarger's bus. One might consider it his golden rule.

To leave it messy is to guarantee a longer stay on the bus. Echelbarger will keep a student on the bus after arriving to school and make them clean the inside. He calls it an "attitude adjustment."

And the principals are more than fine with it.

Consistent, punctual

Braden Mumaugh rode Echelbarger's bus for eight years. Asked about his old bus driver, the first word that came to Mumaugh's mind was consistent. There was a "good morning" every morning. You'd get one honk if you weren't outside and best hurry if you heard the honk.

Kameron Smith remembered the honks, too.

"If we weren't ready, we weren't making it," he said.

Smith rode Echelbarger's bus from 1998 to 2006. He and his brother earned the title of bus evacuation drill assistants. When they'd practice evacuating the bus in the event of an emergency, Smith and his brother were tasked with helping others out of the back of the bus.

It was a badge they wore with honor.

"That showed he had a lot of trust in us," Smith said. "We earned those spots, and that was a big deal."

By transportation director Leslie Alexander's account, Echelbarger has only missed twice: the death of his wife and when he had shoulder surgery.

"We know he's going to be there, unless something major is going on," she said.

Echelbarger's wife died in February. It's just him and his tortoiseshell cat, now. The home, adorned with John Deere memorabilia, is quieter these days.

But not this morning. His son Dustin swung by before noon to load up containers of spaghetti to take to the guys helping him farm. Planting season was in full swing.

Echelbarger gave up farming a couple years ago. His son took over, but he still helps out.

He plans to drive for a 51st year. Simultaneously, he's catching up on naps.

"By driving bus, I still have a reason to get up in the morning," he said. "I can't lie in bed too long."

Spencer Durham can be reached at 765-454-8598, by email at spencer.durham@kokomotribune.com or on Twitter at @Durham_KT.