The “Dinosaur Ladies” are stepping off the school bus, and the “Dragon Lady” is turning in her keys.
The three women—Brenda Tolliver, Dorothy Leake and Joyce Hart—have spent a combined 126 years in the driver’s seats of King George County school buses. They’ve earned the nicknames their riders passed along.
As the women prepare to make their last runs, they have a lot to say about how their jobs—and parenting—have changed with the times.
Tolliver started 48 years ago, when schools were segregated, back roads were little more than cow paths and drivers didn’t have radios to contact the garage.
When buses had flat tires, radiator leaks or slid into the ditch on flooded or snowy roads, drivers fixed the problems themselves or waited for a motorist—or tractor—to come along and help.
They also took care of discipline problems or sent more serious offenders to the main office. No one questioned their ability to resolve the issue, the women said.
One time “back in the day,” one of Tolliver’s five children got in trouble, and she marched the boy in to see the principal after she “spanked his butt.”
The principal knew Tolliver was no-nonsense. She asked if Tolliver would drive her son to the sitter’s after school.
“Of course,” Tolliver said.
Then the principal admitted her child was a little on the wild side. She asked for Tolliver’s advice.
Tolliver told her to give her a paddle in front of the boy and make it clear that the driver had the mother’s permission to use it.
Whenever the boy started to act up, Tolliver warned: “Do you want me to pull over?”
She never needed to; the threat alone was enough.
“You do something like that now, and they’ll have you to court and sue you to death,” Tolliver said.
Hart, who became known as “the Dragon Lady” during her 40 years of driving, and Leake, who has driven for 38 years, said parents used to check in with drivers regularly because they wanted to be sure their children were behaving.
These days, Tolliver said, parents won’t admit if their children did anything wrong. Even when the school system shows them a videotape of a child misbehaving on the bus, the parents “don’t want their child—what’s the word—accused of doing anything,” said Hart.
She said she’s been in meetings with fathers who tossed out four-letter words at the drop of a hat. Like the other women of her generation who speak openly about what they see, Hart looked at the father and told him point blank: “I understand why your son is the way he is because you’re his example.”
All three have enjoyed getting to know several generations of children. There was a time when the drivers believed they set the tone for the day and made sure to greet each child with a cheery “good morning.”
Likewise, the drivers were overloaded with gifts at Christmastime and regularly got hugs and news from children about their daily events. But those days seem long gone.
Drivers said they’re encouraged not to talk to parents or children and to avoid any physical contact with their riders.
“You can’t even touch a child to separate them when they’re fighting,” Leake said.
As the years have passed, the drivers were glad to trade in the old buses—that lacked power steering and push-button controls—for some more modern versions. Tolliver recalled one field trip to Richmond, when the bus didn’t have enough oomph to carry its full load up a hill.
She had to back down the hill and start again. Someone stopped traffic for her so she could get a running start and enough momentum to cross several lanes of traffic and make it up the hill.
“I’ve been in some predicaments,” she said.
But there has been one change to the job that the women can’t endure, and that’s the primary reason, along with an early retirement bonus, that they’re calling it quits.
The older drivers don’t like having to email hours and schedules to the main office.
“Some of the older drivers don’t have the technology on their phones,” said Christopher Barbour, a bus monitor who is also on the school system’s transportation advisory committee. “But as far as their skills and their reflexes, they’re top of the line.”
He and other committee members want to honor those who served the county so long. The group is planning a retirement brunch for them June 8 at the King George Citizens Center.
Other employees who will be honored, but didn’t want to be interviewed, are Myrtle Sisson, who has driven 39 years; Dorothy Prince, a bus monitor for 23 years; and Anita Armstrong, 26 years, and Sondra Caton, 19 years, who retired in January.
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