| Notes |
- SKILL DATES BACK 38 YEARS
by Joe Roberts (A member of The Star's staff)
J. P. (Percy) Friend stepped down from the 12:30 p. m. Greyhound just in from St. Louis and walked briskly through the 917 McGee street bus terminal to the driver's room to make his reports and to sign in.
For 38 years the veteran bus driver has been making similar reports, sometimes with trouser pockets stuffed with fares in bills and coins before collections were streamlined, but this day he had agreed to a chat about busses.
"I've got to take the bus to the garage. Got your car? You can ride with me on the bus if you haven't and I'll drive you back here in my car," he said as we shook hands.
Riding with Percy seemed an honor stemming from the respect one man has for another who obviously knows his job. The confidence and ease with which he swung the big vehicle into the afternoon traffic was a delight to witness.
Nor is his apparent skill just a happenstance. It was built in over years of experience and 3 million miles of driving busses in the public transportation industry. Percy is oldest in service in the company's district here and is the kind of driver Greyhound has in mind when it advises one to relax and "leave the driving to us."
Proud of This Card
Proudest possession is a card in the driver's identification case which emphasizes that "Greyhound Lines is proud to certify that J. P. Friend" has completed 31 years of safe driving. The date - February 27, 1963.
Equally proud of his record is Percy's wife, Helen. More than 38 years ago she was the pretty country school teacher who rode in the seat behiind the driver on his 12-mile run from Nashville, Ill., to Venedy, Ill.
In this instance it was LaRue Friend, an older brother, who discovered what was transpiring. He drove the same route on alternate days.
"Why aren't you punching that little teacher's bus ticket?" he queried.
Percy confessed that he was considering taking over all of his young passenger's ticket worries.
"I was one sharp bus driver," he quipped.
But it was really the older brother who had been sharp enough to earlier advise his romantic brother to quit his job in a grocery store in his native O'Fallon, Ill., and go to work with Superior Bus Line that led to the latter action.
The Brother's Advice
"If you want to make some good money, start working for this guy," he advised. "He's going to buy more busses."
Big brother apparently was ahead of his time for Percy moved ahead with the industry to Community Motoer Bus, Purple Swan Safety Coach Line, then to Picwick Greyhound-all part of the warp and woof of the present Greyhound corporation.
"I drove an old Dodge at first-it was a regular truck chassis-between Scott Field and Belleville, Ill.," he said. "There were long red plush seats along each side of the bus. You could squeeze nine in on each side.
"I drove 'em when the bodies were made of wallboard - beaver board we called it then, and I drove 'em when they were built with a sedan door for each seat."
In His Blood
Perhaps the peppery driver comes by his liking for his job because its in the family.
"My father was a streetcar motorman," he explained. "He ran the second streetcar over Eads bridge in St. Louis - the first one was too wide for the bridge. My brother is the oldest driver with the Gulf Transport company.
Percy drove the St. Louis run 14 years until 1941 when he switched to the western Kansas highways. He returned here last October.
When he started to drive busses only a chauffeur's license was necessary and this was just a recording matter, he recalled.
A Big Change
"When I started there wasn't any driver training program. We used to take about 20 applicants in a bus and watch them drive in turn. Now a high school or college education is desired and Greyhound has a 6-week drivers school. Then the student drivers are checked over the routes for several round trips before they are permitted to drive regularly.
"Why I was even checked out over theSt. Louis route when I returned to this area."
The veteran driver observes a simple rule for safety: "When it gets too bad (driving conditions) I park the bus."
The most dangerous surface for motor cars in his estimation is "packed snow when it melts."
Bus driving isn't monotonous or dull "but it would be if you let it get that way," he said.
Some Experiences
Experiences such as a 13-hour overnight wait in a Kansas blizzard with 39 passengers aboard; a panicky older passenger who wanted to get off on an icy night in an isolated place in Kansas when he suddenly recalled that he had left the water running in a California irrigation ditch, (Percy called and had the water shut off) and a mental case behind his seat who continued to place long distance calls by dropping half dollars down the window slot - the fact that answers were coming in bothered Percy - are typical of a trip's possible variety.
In another instance a passenger became so worried about a home situation that she left the bus and raced up the town's main street. and for a short time Percy did police work to solve the problem.
Our conversation concluded in the front seat of a motor car with Percy in the incongruous setting at the wheel of his just-a-bit-larger-than-compact vehicle. But not before the ruddy 177 pounds of energy, looking for all the world like a good blocking back, denied any such athletic prowess.
"Nope, when they were having those "track and field events I was usually sitting in the stands with some of the pretty girls," he laughed. Yet he hasn't lost a day because of illness.
However,, there was an instance about four years ago when it was rumored all over the circuit that Percy Friend, the indestructible, was through - his electrocardiograph was phenomenal. No one could interpret his heart action. After the company's insistence on a 30--day observance - a non-driving period - it was discovered that the test had been made with the equipment attached erroneously in reverse positions.
That was four years ago and regulations call for a heart checkup every six months for those over 40. Percy is 58 years old and all of his subsequent tests, you can rest assured, have been normal.
The Friends live at 2607 Buchanan Street, North Kansas City. they have a son, Dale Friend, Salina, Kas., and a daughter, Mrs. Joan DeBeaux, St. Louis, and seven grandchildren.
|
1905 - 1979 (74 years)
