Bye-bye to the big yellow bus; Reams retires after 51 years, Hall of Fame induction in June

In 1969, Garrett Kimbell, a family friend and farmer, approached the young matriarch of the Reams family farm operation with a proposition.

“He said Sherrill, I need somebody to drive my school bus for me when I am busy during harvest season. I told him, well Mr. Garrett, I can’t drive a school bus. He said sure you can! I have watched you drive those old grain trucks many a time, You can do this,” Mrs. Reams said, on the occasion of her final route run, driving #1277, to pick up and drop off hundreds of South Fulton Elementary, Middle and High School students.

The substituting didn’t last long. The very next year, after suffering with health issues, Raymond Wallace retired, and Mrs. Reams stepped behind the wheel fulltime, for a run which would last 51 years.

“Mr. Garrett took me over to the Superintendent, at that time, George Blakemore. We talked to him, and then I went and took the test, I believe the State Troopers gave it. I passed it, and then you had to drive the bus around the block pretty much. All you had to have then was a chauffeur’s license, not a CDL then,” Mrs. Reams said.

On May 20, she gathered under the awning of South Fulton High School to share a few minutes with her fellow bus drivers, many of whom have over 25 years under their own belts.

“I have just really enjoyed it. I have been able to work with some of the best people through the years. The other bus drivers have always been great and we have helped each other. I have had some of the best, most supportive principals, who always supported us. I haven’t really had many discipline issues to have to deal with, but if I did, all I had to do was talk to my principal and it would get taken care of,” she said. She said early on in her driving, Virgil Yates and James Faulkner were both encouraging and supportive.

Also on hand for Mrs. Reams’ school bus swan song last week, were her son and daughter-in-law, Charlie and Deanna Reams, as well as her daughter and son-in-law, Janet and Joe Dowdy.

Mrs. Reams will actually pass the torch, or the bus keys, to Joe, who will take over her route when classes resume in August.

“But now we are going to still leave the bus in my yard,” Mrs. Reams said.

“He can come up here and get it every morning. Then he can bring it back here every evening when he finishes. That way, I will know I can make sure he is getting started at the right time,” she said with a grin.

“So we are still gonna have that bus right in the yard?” Charlie asked.

“Well sure!” Mrs. Reams said.

Charlie was just a little fella when his older siblings would ride to school with their mom behind the wheel...the two of them and a bus load of other children. While Charlie was not yet old enough for school, he still rode along as well, perched right along beside his mother.

“Driving a bus has just been a good fit for me. I love being involved with the school. I really do. I loved driving them to school and taking them home. I also loved taking the teams on game trips. I liked working in the concession stand for Coach Lee. I just like all of it. I really enjoy watching the sports,” she said.

“I hope I have left a good impression in some way, with the kids on the bus. I have tried to talk to them and help them as much as I could. You know, at one time, at Christmas time, I would give all the kids a full size candy bar. Now, the candy bars have had to shrink a little bit...they are the smaller size now,” she recalled.

The icing on the cake, in celebration of her retirement, will be a trip to Pigeon Forge with her family in June, to share in witnessing her induction into the Tennessee Bus Drivers Hall of Fame, an honor which Tim Maynard, Bus Garage Supervisor for the Obion County School System nominated her.

Through the course of five decades, and many miles of country back roads, the lady who is still, truth be told, the matriarch of the Reams farming family, she has transported at least three generations of South Fulton students.

And speaking of generations, after she visited for a while with her children at South Fulton High School last Thursday, she drove her bus over to South Fulton Elementary School, to pick up four special passengers who wanted to ride the bus home with “Nana”. Her great-grandsons, Parker and Jase Dowdy, sons of her grandson, Trent and Tara Dowdy, George Holman, son of her granddaughter, Melissa and John Holman, and Cruz Sowell, son of her grandson, Loren and Niki Sowell, were waiting for her.

“I’m going to be taking care of these boys this summer. We will have a big time. You know, I have been really blessed with good health, and I just think you have always got to just keep moving. That’s what I do, just keep moving,” she said.

The morning before the interview with Mrs. Reams, I was backing out of my driveway, and quickly stopped as I heard her bus round our circle. I watched in my rearview mirror as she drove by, and glanced at the clock. It was 7:25 a.m., on the dot, the same time it has always been, for at least the 30+ years I have lived on her route, and at times, had to shove my own children out the door to our driveway stop. You could set your clock by it, 7:25 every morning. I knew their ride to school would be a safe one, because I knew who was behind the wheel.

Don’t be surprised if you catch a glimpse of her from time to time, back in the drivers seat.

“Oh, I am still going to sub if they need someone! Why not?” she said.