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By Bob Weaver 2022
Had a flashback this morning at 7 a.m., driving the grandkids down the hill to catch the school bus at the Hur intersection, a "my how times have changed" moment."
Over 80 years ago, all kids walked to the bus stop on beautiful
days or on bad weather days, from thunderstorms to deep frigid snow with temps hovering above zero.
At one time a dozen or more kids caught the bus at Hur, some of them walking two miles or more. A few of them didn't have a change of clothes. We were all poor, some worse than others.
At age six I started school in Grantsville, a ten mile ride. On my first day of school, second grader Carolyn Sturm from the main village walked the extra distance to my abode to accompany me to the bus stop. From then I jaunted by myself for the next 12 years.
I was really not alone. My dog Blackie went to the bus stop in the morning and returned to greet me in the evening.
On occasion I pretended like I went to school, wandering into the vast woods for a day long adventure.
There is now a rule that parents or a guardian must be at the bus stop, at least for younger children. Likely a good rule.
Perhaps growing up in a world with fewer rules was a blessing to create survival skills and independence, with frequent bus delays, huddling for body warmth in the bus house or building bonfires.
During those school years, sometimes home alone with both parents working, I wandered unsupervised for miles across the hills and hollers around Hur with the local kids or by myself.
Today, such neglect would be reported to Childrens Service.
Yes, life has changed, hopefully for the better.
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