Fun
fact: The driver of Windham’s first school bus had to first build it before
transporting the children.
During
the early decades of the 20th century, small rural schools were
closing in favor of fewer, larger buildings. One-room schoolhouses, located within
walking distance of the scholars, were fast disappearing. Additionally, the
emergence of high schools that served very large districts further necessitated
the need for transportation. Windham schools budgeted for conveyance (student
transportation) through the mid-1920s, according to Windham Town Reports.
However, this was not bus transportation. Families arranged their own rides in
private vehicles, and often paid the driver directly, usually five cents per
ride.
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| Windham's first school bus was a converted Model-T truck (Photo courtesy of Windham Historical Society and Neil Lowell) |
Due
to increased numbers of students attending Windham High School, located at
Windham center, the demand for conveyance increased, especially for students
living in North and South Windham. Eighty-nine students were enrolled in the
high school in 1928.
Responding
to the need, Ralph Lowell, a local mechanic, had an idea: a coach-sized vehicle
that could carry multiple scholars. That, he reasoned, would translate into
multiple nickels.
The
enterprising Lowell, an employee of Cliff Morrill’s Garage near Foster’s
Corner, set to work in his back yard converting his old Model-T truck into a
coach. He extended the back frame and built a box-like wooden body. Wooden
planks afforded seating. Voila, the first school bus.
In
the 1929 Annual Windham Town Report, the report of the Superintending School
Committee stated: A change was made this year (1928) in the
transportation of the scholars to the High School from North and South Windham.
A contract was made with Ralph Lowell to convey the pupils by bus, the High
School transportation money being used for this… scholars paid 50 cents per
week besides.
Neil
and Ruth Lowell, Ralph’s son and daughter-in-law commented recently from their
home in North Carolina, “It’s (part of) the family story that, due to the need,
the bus was his idea…In 1930, he bought a new Chevrolet truck and extended the
frame by six more feet. (To this) he added seats (possibly) from abandoned
passenger cars.”
Reportedly,
the new seats were padded and covered in black imitation leather. In addition
to being more comfortable, the new bus also carried a greater number of
students. The bus schedule, however, was less than ideal. After students from
one part of town were dropped off at the high school, the arrivals had to be
put in study hall until the bus returned with students from the other end of
town.
In
1936, Windham purchased two first full-sized commercial buses (although one,
purchased late in the year, did not go into service until September 1937). The
pair covered the entire town, however private vehicles continued to serve three
one-room schools.
Beyond
being a bus-builder, Ralph Lowell is remembered for his kindness and good
humor. His niece, Patty Buck, who resides in Windham, still refers to him as
“my favorite uncle.”
“He
loved to talk. He would drop anything he was doing to say hello, give you a
hug, tell a story or find out what was going on in your life. He made you feel
special, like you were the only person in the world at that moment.”
The
kids on Lowell’s bus got the same special treatment. Buck tells the story about
a little girl who moved to River Road from South Portland in 1933. Ralph knew
the family and learned that the girl was nervous, not only about going to a new
school (in this case, Newhall) but about riding a school bus for the first
time. The day before school opened, Ralph visited the family and explained what
the bus ride would be like and the time that he’d be picking her up. To ease
her anxiety, he saved the seat behind the driver just for her. It remained her
seat for the rest of her school days, through eighth grade.
Until
the day she passed at age 92, that girl would tell the story of Ralph Lowell,
often summing it up this way: “He was quite a guy, the nicest and most handsome
man I ever knew.”
Buck
said her uncle went hunting on several occasions with her father, Mac Lyons.
“Uncle
Ralph wanted to experience hunting. He carried a gun, but my father would say,
‘He’s got buck fever.’ Ralph just couldn’t bring himself to harm an animal.”
Caring
about the kids he transported didn’t always translate to friendliness. Sometimes
he felt they needed to be taught a lesson. When the older ones acted out on his
bus, he would give one or two warnings; if the behavior continued, he would
stop the bus.
“Okay,
you’re off!” was the familiar refrain – no matter how far from home the adolescent
was.
Ralph
Lowell’s thoughtfulness, patience and friendly disposition was acknowledged by
his youthful admirers in 1935 when the Windham High School yearbook, Windonian,
was dedicated to him.
Beneath
his picture read:
The
students of Windham High School
Gratefully
dedicate this issue of
The
Windonian to
Ralph
M. Lowell
Our
genial bus-driver and friend
Lowell’s
contributions beyond the driver’s seat continued for another 20 more years, interrupted
only by work at the South Portland shipyard during World War II.
One-year,
veteran elementary teacher Isabel Taylor, who was teaching a unit on Windham
history, was looking for a volunteer to give her students a history tour of the
town.
She
recorded the result of her search later in a memoir: Ralph Lowell, one of
our bus drivers, took us on a three-hour trip around our town. Being familiar
with the town’s landmarks and history, we found him extremely helpful.
Lowell’s
tour caught on and became a tradition. In later years Windham Historical
Society volunteers carried on the tours, and they continue to this day.
Lowell
drove a Windham school bus for a total of nearly 25 years, contributing to the
community and its children in countless ways, leaving behind countless
memories. Today, everyone agrees, he was quite a guy. <
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