t's been a trip for "Mr. Moran." He's been behind the wheel of yellow school bus No. 2 of the Las Lomitas School District, driving kids safely to school and home again, for 40 years.
"I'm the first person the children see in the morning and the last person they see in the afternoon each school day," says Nehmias Moran. All the children call him Mr. Moran, even when they become adults and see their favorite bus driver in the community.
"You have to have love for the kids and realize you're contributing to their education," he says.
"I've driven over 1 million miles," most of them on the Ladera route, says Mr. Moran. He also has driven some early 7 a.m. runs for the Sequoia Union High School District, getting to know Menlo Park quite well when he took care of that school district's transportation for its four schools.
"I've been with the students from kindergarten through high school," he says. He smiles when talking about picking up Sue Sartor, now a first-grade teacher at Las Lomitas School, at the Alpine Road bus stop when she was a student at Ladera and La Entrada schools.
"A lot of mothers in the district used to ride my bus, and now I'm driving their kids," he says. One mother, Kathleen Masket, made Mr. Moran promise not to retire until her youngest of three children, Diane, had started kindergarten at Las Lomitas. Mr. Moran drove Kathleen and her four siblings, who grew up in Atherton, to school. She says he remembered her many years later, and that he told her children if they read on the bus like their mother did they would be successful.
"I kept my promise to her," says Mr. Moran with a smile. He turned 65 in January, but he waited to retire until the end of the school year June 30.
Mr. Moran began his "long haul" with the Las Lomitas district in 1958 as the custodian at Ladera School. A good friend, head custodian Manuel Cano, for whom Cano Hall at Las Lomitas is named, had suggested that Mr. Moran come to the district. Two years later, he filled the bus driver opening and became the lead driver.
Mr. Moran also supervised maintenance for many years.
One student, now an adult, recalls the incident when a jumble of students were rushing to leave Mr. Moran's bus at school. Mr. Moran stood up, and in a firm voice said, "Stop, everyone take a seat. In my bus, you leave one at a time, starting from the front."
"Any parent could rest assured their child riding on Mr. Moran's bus would arrive safely at school and home," says a former student. He knew all the students and their bus stops. "Nobody could pull a fast one on him."
"I was able to work with the kids, and tell them I needed their cooperation and how important it is to get to school safely," says Mr. Moran. He has received many awards for his safe driving. Every year, there's a bus evacuation practice, mandated by the state. Students learn how to get off the bus in case of fire or an accident, or even in the event the bus driver passes out, he explains.
When Mr. Moran started as a bus driver, all the school districts had bus transportation. After Proposition 13 passed, Las Lomitas was the only one to keep buses, he says. "It was a wise choice," considering the increased traffic build-up. A school bus carries about 78 students, and takes 40 to 50 cars off the road, he says.
Over the years, Mr. Moran has enjoyed watching his passengers grow up. He remembers when Don Bunce would throw his football at Ladera field, long before quarterbacking the Stanford football team to a Rose Bowl win and becoming a doctor.
Mr. Moran has a picture of him at La Entrada with Rich Kelley, who went on to play basketball at Stanford and the NBA. "I looked like a midget, standing with the 7-foot Kelley," he laughs.
He also remembers a student named John Naber, who won five gold medals in swimming events at the Olympics.
Mr. Moran plans to continue serving as a deacon at the Apostolic Church, working with young people and helping all around. He and his wife, Alva Lena, who live in Redwood City, plan to go camping at Yosemite and Lake Mendocino. "Maybe, I'll do some substitute bus driving, if needed," he adds.
"It's hard to leave a place where you've enjoyed working," says Mr. Moran. "I have lots of good memories and good friends in the community and district."
He takes pride in the fact that his five children have gone on to college while he's been working at the school district.
