When I went to high school many of the public school bus drivers were senior high school students. There was never a serious accident involving these young drivers which had boys and girls behind the wheel of these big yellow "taxi's" They weren't paid as much as the adult drivers but had the same responsibility of driving safely and getting the kids in our rural county to school and back home each day. The following is a story about one of our bus drivers, a man whom I held in high esteem and some years ago died in my own home.

Bus drivers were usually older men. Lincoln had been on the maintenance staff of Green River Mill. When I was a kid in the mill village, I would often see Lincoln and his brother, Grant, as they would be performing their daily activities within the village, replacing burned out street lights and hauling waste from the mill and the village to the community dump. He drove the county school bus that I rode to junior high. Lincoln had driven for the Henderson County Public School system for over 38 years before retiring and was also a driver for Camp Greystone for many years.

When Lincoln drove for Greystone, it was only during the summer camping season. He always had a pocketful of bubblegum or Juicy Fruit chewing gum which he enjoyed passing out to the girls as a treat. I suppose he thought this would help keep the noise levels down while he was driving. Many former campers recall this man and the gum when they reminisce about their camping experience

He was always a pleasant man and had a friendly smile on his face and would greet us with a hardy “good morning “and an enthusiastic admonition “see ya in the morning,” when we got off the bus.

Sometimes boys would get into a scuffle while on his bus. He would stop or pull over and tell them if they couldn’t settle their differences peaceably then they could get off and continue their argument outside the bus. This isn’t how this situation is handled now and it might not have been then but did herarely had to wait for their problem to be quickly resolved before they were back on the bus.

Lincoln had a large family, ten boys and four girls and lived on Green River. At this time, bus drivers were allowed to drive their busses and park them at their homes after completing their routes. Once a skunk got on his bus while parked in his yard (he had forgotten to close the door after sweeping the bus that afternoon) and left behind that awful scent. It took a lot of washing and cleaning to get that old skunk’s odor from our bus.

Lincoln was also a singing school teacher and taught shape note singing periodically in area churches. He had attended the Vaughn’s School of Music in Lawrenceburg, Tennessee in his younger days where he had learned a great deal about this style of music that had become very popular in our area with many churches adding special singings as a part of their worship, usually devoting one Sunday afternoon or evening service to just singing.

When he returned from the Vaughn School, he taught his brothers and sisters the shaped notes (rudiments of music) and they formed a quartet that sang in many meetings, singings and funerals in the area. Lincoln’s daughter Pearlie Jane, a beautiful sweet young lady and a good alto-tenor singer, caught my eye at Mountain Valley Baptist Church when I was attending one of the singings that had been initiated by her father. We began to see each other on a regular basis and in the fall of 1972, we were married.

Lincolns love for singing was handed down to his children and now his grandchildren. For the past three or four summers, some of the grandchildren have been going to the Tri- Cities Gospel Music Camp in Johnson City, Tennessee. Dustin, Austin, Daniel, Claire, and Harley each have attended and can now direct a choir, keeping the beat with ease.

Dustin, Sammy’s son, has become very proficient in the shaped note music system and has co-written a couple of songs that have been published in the song books used by many churches throughout the Southeast. This past summer he wrote a song completely; poetry, music and added the harmonies, a skill his grandfather never quite attained. Lincoln’s love for the shaped note style of music will continue. No doubt, he would be extremely proud of his grandchildren.

Lincoln was well known for his prowess in trading and selling used vehicles, especially old Chevrolet trucks and once worked for a local Chevy dealership. If you had a truck, he might want to buy it, if you didn’t have a truck, he was always willing to sell you one of his. Many of the trucks he sold were sold on credit and he trusted almost everyone to pay for the vehicles that he sold to them when down on their luck and needed transportation. Many were never paid for by the customer.