Clearwater Bus Driver Retires After 35 Years

Kathy Patras enjoyed viewing wildlife while she drove the school bus, as well as spending time with children.

“I like the wildlife we have in our area … and the kids, and that I could squeeze it in before and after a full-time job,” Patras said.

Patras dedicated 35 years working as Clearwater’s bus driver but decided spring of 2018 was her final semester. Not only did she retire as a bus driver, but she also retired as a preschool para for Orchard and Clearwater.

”I originally decided to retire from being a para first because I work nine and a half, 10 hours of the day. There were hardly any breaks,” Patras said.

At first, Patras wanted to give up the para job and keep driving the job, but decided it wouldn’t work out because it would still take up too much time.

Patras attended Clearwater High School and pursued her career in teaching by taking online classes through Northeast Community College and Lincoln’s Southeast Community College. She said she was inspired by her experience teaching Sunday school and working with Girl Scouts.

“I taught Sunday school, Girl Scouts and that kind of thing,” Patras said. “It drew me into wanting to teach.”

Initially, Patras was going after an associate degree, but began teaching for 10 years at a private preschool in Clearwater before she received her degree. Upon discovering she needed training, she worked at Head Start in Neligh for 16 years as a preschool teacher. She then learned she would be required to get a bachelor’s degree, so she decided to be a para.

“So, I had started taking classes to get an associate degree, but it went fast when the school decided to put preschool into the school,” Patras said. “They wanted a bachelor’s, and so that’s when I decided to just take a para job at Clearwater.”

According to Patras, Clearwater was starting the reading mastery program and needed more paras when she took on the job.

“So, I worked there seven years as a para, and then the preschool job opened back up,” Patras said. “That’s when I ended up there. And I started driving a bus in ‘82 or ‘83.”

Patras split her day, spending mornings as a preschool para in Clearwater and afternoons in Orchard. She taught a variety of lessons to students, mainly using hands-on methods.

“We teach letters, sounds, colors. Of course, play is the biggest part of preschool. Let them play and it’s hands-on teaching,” Patras said.

As a bus driver, Patras said she used to drive 35 kids, ages 5 to 17, on her bus route. But in recent years, the amount went down to 13 to 14 students.

From home to school, Patras said she transported students on morning and afternoon routes, as well as turnaround routes between Orchard and Clearwater for three years while the schools were together. The routes were not difficult for her to remember.

“Once you drive them, you know pretty well what they are because I always drove south of Clearwater,” Patras said.

Patras said she enjoyed building relationships with kids and admired their enthusiasm.

“When you’re a bus driver, you don’t change families,” Patras said. “Basically, I think we figured I drove for like 69 families and a lot of those kids get on when they’re kindergarteners, and they still have them until they start driving to school.”

Comical memories of children on the bus and animals outside filled her 35 years of serving as a bus driver.

“If you drive a school bus for 35 years, there’s lots of funny things, like how many times did we almost hit a deer or deers running beside the bus,” Patras said. “Or, we had elk out in the country for a long time that we would watch for. Kids do a lot of silly things.”

In her years of driving, Patras said she never drove her own relatives. However, she had a sibling who lived next to the school, but the kids didn’t require rides except for other activities.

She and her husband, Steven, have three children of their own named Stephanie, Amy and Sean, as well as eight grandchildren.  

Steven recently retired from the Northeast Nebraska Telephone Company in October. Patras said he has always been supportive of her work and he played a significant role in her decision to retire.

“He was instrumental in wanting me to retire, because as a bus driver, you usually leave, well not this year, but there’s been years that you left on the bus route at 20 to 7 a.m. and you get home at 5 p.m.,” Patras said. “And, the roads are not good.”

During her retirement, Patras said she plans to hopefully travel more and spend more time with her son in Chadron.

Even though her time as a bus driver has come to an end, Patras said she still misses the kids and driving under beautiful morning skies.

“I enjoyed the families that I drove for and the kids, and I really miss them,” Patras said. “I even miss driving in the morning – the beautiful outdoors.”