HEADLINES
Community Memorializes Heroic School Bus Driver in Chowchilla Kidnapping Case
By Michelle Fisher
The bus Ed Ray drove with 26 children aboard during the infamous 1976 kidnapping was parked near the school bus driver’s grave during his funeral services in May.
Te bravery of Ed Ray was remembered during a May 22 funeral
service honoring the school bus driver who became a hero in the highly publicized 1976 Chowchilla kidnapping case. He was 91. He saved the lives of 26 children after three masked men hi-
jacked their school bus, transferred the children to a van and burried them in a rock quarry several feet underground for a $5-million ransom. Tese children became lifelong friends of Ray, who died May 17 of complications from cirrhosis of the liver. He is survived by his wife, Odessa, two sons, three grandchildren and three great-grandchildren. Ray and some of the students were able to dig themselves out
of the quarry, and the three kidnappers were apprehended. Te men were convicted and sentenced to life in prison, but in 1981 the state appeals court ruled that all three were eligible for future release because none of the victims had suffered physical injuries. On June 15, the California Department of Corrections and
Rehabilitation announced it would release the youngest of the three Chowchilla kidnappers, Richard Schoenfeld, 57, at the end of that month. He was released the evening of June 20 from the California Men’s Colony in San Luis Obispo. Te parole hearings found in 2008 that he posed no danger to society, based on his good behavior and acceptance of responsibility. John Schoenfeld and Fred Woods have parole hearings later this year. Te hijacking of the Chowchilla school bus caused terror in
the small town because of fresh memories of the Manson mur- ders, Zodiac killer and Patty Hearst kidnapping. Te high-profile school-bus kidnapping was related in the book “Why Have Tey Taken Our Children?” by Jack W. Baugh and Jefferson Morgan, and later adapted into a television movie.
28 School Transportation News Magazine July 2012
Jodi Medrano, who was 10 during the school bus hijacking and
kidnapping, recalled that Ray made her feel safe during the 16- hour ordeal. Medrano, who runs a hair salon in Chowchilla, said she kept in touch with Ray all of her life. Most of the students remained in the small town as adults and visited their former bus driver up until his passing. “Mr. Ray was a very quiet, strong, humble man. He has a very
special place in my heart and I loved him very much,” Medrano said, according to an AP report. Family friend Peggy Haupt, who is public information officer
with the city of Chowchilla, said Ray and the young victims did not like the “hype” surrounding their ordeal, as it made them relive painful memories. “Ed was a true hero and played down what he did,” Haupt told
School Transportation News. “He said he was just doing his job and he didn’t want all the attention.” Haupt, who also grew up in Chowchilla, described Ray as hum-
ble and unassuming, and found it fitting that the school bus he drove in 1976 was on display during his funeral at Chowchilla Cem- etery. She added that the city is planning on memorializing Ray by naming a local park after him. Tose plans were expected to be brought before the City Council over the next few months. Ray’s family members said he collected newspaper clippings
about the kidnapping and bought the school bus he drove in 1976 for $500 because he didn’t want it to be scrapped. He parked the bus in his barn and started it once in awhile, according to his son, Glen. After several years, though, Ray donated the infamous bus to
an old equipment museum in nearby Le Grande, Calif., where it is still available for public viewing. ■
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