After work one day in Sept., I went to the Greyhound office in my hometown.. Much to my disappointment they were not hiring.. So I went to the Trailways office, and it just so happened they needed an Extra Board Man. So they hired me on Sept 25, 1963.. Much to my suprise on or around the first of Nov.  we had run bids!! They had not told me about run bids, and that I could get bumped out of my home town. So when run bids were over, hear I was working out of Muncie Indiana.. Not wanting to move my family, I got a room at the YMCA and this was going to be My Home.. I worked in Muncie until Spring of 1964.. At that time the Company started taking High School Charters to New York City and Washington DC.. My boss knew that I was not crazy about working out of Muncie and that it was a lot of added expense, so he put me on the list to pull the charters..

The Charters lasted for a week at a time. My first Charter that I pulled was Topeka High School, Topeka, Indiana..  Everything went well for the whole week on this Charter to Washington and New York City.. My second week I pulled Ligonier High School.. On the Monday morning  I went to Ligonier for pick up, I got there early so I went to the local restaurant for a cup of coffee.. As I was sitting there drinking my coffee, in walks one of the male students that I had taken the week before.. He had with him, his girlfriend who was from Ligonier.. She was going to be going with me on the Ligonier charter.. He introduced us and told her that I would be her Bus Driver for the week.. After drinking our coffee we left and I went to the School for pick up..

This Charter was probably the high light of my life.. This girl ,sitting behind me on the bus, talking all week with me about her life and her future, made my  "Fatherly Instincts" kick in. But after the charter was over and they were back home, I could not forget about her and kept wondering what she was doing and where she was at.. Without going into seven years of details, this girl who had now became a lady became my wife.. Now after being married for over 30 years, I still think she is the best thing that ever happened to me in my lifetime..

In January 1969 I was ask if  I wanted the job of  Station Mgr. and Asst. Supt.. At this time I thought that this would be a great opportunity.. I worked this job until Nov. 1975.. My seniority had been frozen when I went into management.. I was about to get passed in seniority by several men in Nov. so I asked to go back to driving.. Also my feet were itching real bad to get back on the road..

  My first assignment after getting back on the road , was a mail run from Ft. Wayne, IN to Kalamazoo, MI. This was the remains of a Hypo(highway post office on wheels)run that the Co. had for years. The run was discontinued after a short time. My next run was from Ft. Wayne to Marshall IL.. I held runs during my years that consisted of home terminals at Ft. Wayne, Cincinnati, Indianapolis and Louisville. Most of the time it was either Ft. Wayne or Louisville which kept me moving my family every couple of years. Even with all this hassle, I still loved my job!!!!!!

And then came the buyout, Greyhound buying Trailways Inc., in my estimation that was the beginning of the end!!!!!  My Co.(Southeatern Trailways) then pooled with Greyhound on all our runs. This left us driving Greyhound busses and  our busses on the runs, using all Greyhound terminals. In my mind Greyhound Management left a lot to be desired, compared to what we had with Trailways.

Then to make matters worse in 1990 Greyhound was going on strike!!!!! The Union said we had a working contract, so we must work, at first work, just don't cross their lines. Then it was drive their busses, cross their lines or get fired. The Union did nothing because we had a working contract. Needless to say the stress level was out of this world!!!!!

In 1992 I had a heart attach, that laid me up for several months. At this time the Co. put me on disability. My driving career was over. It was very hard for me to visualize that I would not be driving a bus down the road again!!! At times I would go to the bus station just to smell the odor of diesel smoke.