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Bus driver has seen a lot in 47 years
By Tim Bousquet
The Daily Citizen
Tuesday, May 11, 2004 12:43 AM CST
Junior Barker has been around the block a few times. Literally. For 47 years Barker has driven a bus for the Searcy School District.
"Most of these kids, I drove their daddies to school," said Barker.
For many years Barker drove students from Letona to Searcy, and he's been a substitute driver on most of the other routes.
Nowadays he drives the westside route. He starts at 6:45 each morning, makes pick-ups along Highway 36 and drops off the younger children at Westside Elementary. From there he picks up a load of older children and shuttles them over to the High School. He's finished by 8 a.m. He goes back to work at 3 p.m. and reverses the route, finishing by 4:15.
At 68 years old, Barker especially likes taking the school field trips to Little Rock, a bonus both in pay and in the time he spends with the children.
"The best thing about this job is the kids," he said. "The kids and the trips."
Not that the kids don't present their share of problems.
"You got to be a little strict sometimes," he said. "When I first started, I had a kid acting up, and I made him sit on the heater. We could be strict with them [then], but now we can't touch them. We have to write them up and let the principal take care of them."
The buses have changed as well.
"My first bus was a standard, with a hole in the floor," he said. Barker would place cardboard over the hole to keep from getting blasted with cold air and mud, but the students kept moving the cardboard.
"So I made a student sit next to me on the seat and put his foot over the hole. He was a big old boy who weighed about 300 pounds. They couldn't move him."
The basic school bus has evolved a bit over the years. For the past four years, Barker has driven a fully automatic Bluebird with no holes in the floorboard. Air conditioning and heat are standard equipment.
Barker said he tried to retire in 1999.
"But they wouldn't let me retire," he said. "They kept calling me up to fill in for them. I told them I couldn't be a substitute. If they wanted me to drive, they'd have to put me back on as a regular driver."
Still, Barker vows he'll successfully retire next year.
After retirement, "I'll sit around, I guess. That, and do some bush hogging. I've got a 200 acre farm, with 25 head of cattle."
He'll be missed, said teacher Tom Webb, who was part of a group of teachers who last week gave Barker a certificate of appreciation for his years of service.
"He's a likable guy," said Webb. "Everyone likes him."
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