INDUSTRY CONNECTIONS
Bidding Farewell to Industry Leaders
Matthews was a school David Huff, the retired
director of Traffic Education Programs at the Montana Office of Public Instruction (OPI), passed away Oct. 12 after a battle with brain cancer. He was 62. A former school bus driver
and local director of trans- portation, Huff served as the Montana state director of student transportation from 1992 through 1995, when he moved over to OPI’s adult edu- cation unit as director. He then transitioned to traffic education, where he remained until his retirement in May 2011. In March 2011, NHTSA
Administrator David Strickland honored Huff with an award at the Lifesaver Conference in Phoenix for outstanding leader- ship in driver education. “He worked tirelessly his
entire career to train student and adult drivers; I am sure his dedication and love for the programs he directed has saved many, many lives,” said Maxine Mougeot, executive secretary for the Montana Association for Pupil Transportation. Chief of Staff Madalyn
Quinlan of the state Office of Public Instruction added, “He did not hesitate to speak up and advocate for his programs.” Meanwhile, Robert E. (Bob) Matthews, who founded school bus dealer Matthews Buses Inc. in 1967, died Nov. 4 after being struck by a motorist. He was 85.
board member in Long Island, N.Y., and also ran an auto body shop when Perley A. Tomas, the founder of Tomas Built Buses, approached him to head up new dealerships located in western New York. Since then, Matthews Buses has been an authorized dealer for Tomas. Former NSTA president
Larry Pierce passed away on Oct. 4 at age 85. He founded Pierce Coach in 1940, and from 1948 until his death, served as president of the Roslyn, N.Y.– based contractor. He was the former president of the New York School Bus Contractors Association (1967) and of NSTA (1977), as well as NSTA Contractor of the Year, before his induction into the NSTA Hall of Fame in 1993. Pierce was also a
long-standing member of the National Association for Pupil Transportation and the New York Association for Pupil Transportation. Donald Huffman, another
NSTA Hall of Famer, died on Oct. 24 after a battle with lung cancer. He was 80 years old. In 1968 he became a co-man- ager of Rochester School Bus Service and RSB Coaches and eventually became the sole owner. In 1992 he sold Roches- ter School Bus Service to Laid- law Transit, now First Student. After retiring in 2005, he sold RSB Coaches to Minnesota Coaches in Hastings, Minn. A longtime NSTA member, Hoffman served as treasurer for more than 10 years and went on to serve a two-year term as NSTA president. Hoffman was a longtime board member of the Minnesota School Bus Operators Association and received its Lifetime Achieve- ment Award in 2009.
12 School Transportation News January 2013
MOVINGON OREGON STATE DIRECTOR RETIRES,
ACCEPTS NASDPTS MEMBERSHIP POST I
n November, Steven Huillet tendered his letter of retirement to the Oregon Department of Education, which employed him since 2003 in the Pupil Trans- portation Branch.
Huillet served as state director of pupil transportation
and fingerprinting since May 2009, and prior to that, he was a program analyst at the DOE. “I had very mixed feelings about retiring from the depart- ment and losing connection with pupil transportation. Tis has been my life for over 25 years, and I truly believe in the industry and all the great people who dedicate their life to [it],” he said.
After pleading guilty to failing to stop for a school bus and reckless operation, Shena Hardin of Cleveland was sentenced to wear a sign reading, “Only an idiot would drive on the sidewalk to avoid the school bus” one hour a day for two days in November. She also had her license suspended for 30 days and was fined $250.
AP PHOTO/TONY DEJAK
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56