‘No. 1 transportation’ drivers retire, look back on 37 years in Holyoke schools

Mark Groshans remembers a kindergartener who rode his bus decades ago as he drove through the city and country areas southeast of Holyoke, picking up kids to bring to the local schools. “Not a lot” has changed town-wise, Groshans said, since he began in August 1985, a man in his mid-twenties looking for a part-time job. Not a lot has changed, that is, except for the people: Before he retired in December 2022, he had driven that former kindergartener’s children to school from the same house.

“Most people don’t drive a bus that long, I guess,” he said. “Time goes pretty fast.”

Holyoke School District honored Groshans and Scott Murray, two of its longtime bus drivers, on Wednesday, Jan. 25, with a late-afternoon cake reception among more than 30 coworkers, family members and local citizens. Murray, who drove 37 years, and Groshans, for the same time period, set up camp standing near a brick wall opposite the cake table as – one after another – celebration attendees approached to visit or give them cards thanking them for their service. Placed upon the table, in addition to the cake and snacks, were framed newspaper photos showing the two drivers through the years.

At times, Murray ventured further out toward circular tables where attendees had begun to congregate; Groshans, meanwhile, seemed to have found a spot he liked.

When factoring in daily routes and sports events, District Superintendent Kyle Stumpf said, the two drivers have impacted an estimated 15,000 students each through the job. “Coaches, janitors and bus drivers” often are the first people who students see, he continued, and he expressed appreciation to Groshans and Murray for their efforts to make those first interactions positive.

“Another important thing to know is they probably outlasted eight superintendents,” he said, pausing for a moment as the crowd began to laugh, “twelve principals, and I can’t tell you how many parents and coaches.”

Soon, their former supervisor Robert Jacobs arrived to congratulate them on their retirement. With help from Groshans and Scott, he said, the Holyoke School District evolved from “kind of a mess” when he began the job in 1987 to “probably the No. 1 transportation in Eastern Colorado” by his own retirement around 2016.

“Actually, I don’t remember any driver that I didn’t rapport with,” he said. “Everybody was willing to learn. Mark was probably one of the better ones. He was always willing to step up. Scott was probably right behind him.”

To drive a bus in ’87, Murray said, proved simple: basically, “pass a test and here’s the keys.” Later years added more schooling for the drivers, such as first aid training and – in the early 1990s – a required commercial driver’s license with Passenger and School Bus endorsements.

“That took a lot of training,” Jacobs said in regard to the new licenses. “That took a lot of patting on the back to encourage: ‘Come on. You can do it; you can do it. Let’s go out. We’ll train you. It’s all right.’”

New drivers were licensed annually, he said, for the district’s eight routes. Buses were fixed up and maintained.

By 1992, Murray would win the Colorado State Pupil Transportation Association’s annual Northeastern Bus Roadeo in Brush, Colorado, where drivers across the state competed in both a written and driving test. Two of the tests, Jacobs noted, included traversing a series of traffic cones that, each time, were moved closer and closer; and a parallel parking challenge.

“I think there were three of us that won,” Murray said, “within a four-or five-year period.”

Meanwhile, nearly three decades passed: Stick shift vehicles changed to automatics. Bag phones – bulky devices with little antennas, plugged into outlets – changed to cell phones.

Murray said Jacobs helped him through a tough period in 1997, when a semi hit the back end of his bus as he off-loaded students and flipped the vehicle on its side. Later, he demonstrated the incident by spinning a voice recorder across The Holyoke Enterprise front counter.

“Before I knew it,” he said, “I was knocked out or blacked out.”

Though the experience proved “traumatic,” Jacobs added, the district gave Murray some time. Soon, he returned to work.

“I’ve driven in sand storms, hail, rain, you name it,” Murray said.

Both Groshans and he recalled times when weather resulted in driving complications. In the late ‘80s, Groshans said, hard snowfall plugged his bus’ air breather, causing him to get stuck along a county road until around 7 at night. Murray, meanwhile, remembered a particular blizzard that hit during a 2001 trip for Holyoke’s senior class to the Snowy Range Ski Area in Centennial, Wyoming. That day, he needed to pull over in whiteout conditions until the roads cleared.

Jacobs stressed the need for safety among his drivers, an emphasis that carried on to his successors.

“I’ve always said this: It’s safety first,” Groshans noted. “Discipline and stuff like that’s secondary. You’ve got to be safe, first.”

Murray added the need for a good driver to respect everyone, no matter who they are or what position they hold.

Moving into retirement, Murray said, has given him the opportunity to attend “a lot of” his grandkids’ ballgames. Nonetheless, he continued, he will miss the children on his bus route. When asked about their favorite aspect of the job, both he and Groshans cited the students.

Student behavior on buses has become different when compared to when he started, Groshans said. They used to talk with one another and sometimes get into trouble, he continued, but now they mostly “just sit there and text the whole trip.”

But would he prefer they text or get into trouble? Groshans chuckled.

“Most of it’s just a little orneriness; it ain’t hard to deal with,” he said. “They know I know their moms and dads.”