Fort Ann honors Jimmy Paige, 89, school bus driver 59 years

By Cathy DeDe, Chronicle Managing Editor

Friday afternoon, March 6, Fort Ann School unveiled a new sign dedicating the school’s transportation building to James “Jimmy” Paige.

Mr. Paige, who turns 90 in September, has been a Fort Ann School bus driver for 59 years. He’s still doing it full-time.

“Passed the test last week, no problem” Fort Ann Transportation Director Mark Larrow told The Chronicle. “I hope I’m in half the shape he is if I get to be 90.”

The celebration, in the bus garage, included Mr. Paige’s family members, fellow bus drivers, School Board members and administrators. They’d told Mr. Paige it was to be a union meeting, “but he figured us out,” that the gathering was for him, daughter Sharon Archer said.

The sign and building dedication was still a surprise.

A man of few words, Mr. Paige told the group with a smile, “I thank you for this. But you’re not getting a speech out of me.”

That was it. He did pose for pictures.

The metal sign is shaped and colored like a yellow school bus, with “Bus #8” and “1967” on the hood end, marking Mr. Paige’s first assignment. On the back end: Bus #6, 2026, his current route.

Under the building name, “Fort Ann School Transportation,” it says, “Dedicated to James H. Paige, 59 Years of Service.” It was to be installed on the bus garage wall facing Catherine Street.

Mr. Larrow says they’ll change the end dates when Mr. Paige finally retires. Mr. Larrow also presented him with a small replica to take home.

Mr. Paige told The Chronicle that for a brief moment, a few years back, “I did retire. For one day.”

Why continue driving the bus now?

“It gives me something to do,” Mr. Paige said. “Gets me out of the house. I like driving. The kids don’t bother me. I have an aide on the bus.”

He said he’s had just two different routes, the first for more than 40 years. “That’s how I know where I’m going,” he says with a smile.

Now he drives the “small bus,” for special needs students.

Mr. Larrow told The Chronicle, “A lot of the people that live here in Fort Ann either rode on the bus with Jimmy or their kids rode on a bus with Jimmy.”

His daughter Sharon Archer says, “He has generations and generations of kids. The kids that he used to drive years ago, they’re grandparents now, and he drives the great grandchildren.

“It’s nice that like, Valentine’s Day, you got a little heart, some stuff from the kids. Christmas time, he always gets stuff.”

Mrs. Archer, one of five siblings, says the family ran Paige’s Service Station in Fort Ann “for years. We just sold it.”

She said driving the bus was another source of income, and insurance.

The building dedication ceremony was delayed a few weeks because Mr. Paige’s wife Kathleen passed away in February.

Mr. Larrow said of Mr. Paige, “He’s very good with the kids. He’s got the handicapped bus, where he’s got one student in a wheelchair and the siblings are there, too. They can be a little hectic at times. If the aides can’t get them under control, he’ll speak up real quick and it comes right back down and they stop.”

Mr. Larrow told “just one” story to the gathering at the bus garage:

“Jimmy’s always been very dedicated to all the students he’s transported. Oh, he’s gotten hot under the collar just a few times, in some situations.

“One particular is: an apple went flying right by his head one day and hit the windshield, right in front of him.”

Walker’s Farm Home and Tack store was nearby on Route 4. “He turned around very quickly at Walker’s and hollered on the radio to ‘Get us a principal out here, immediately.’ So obviously we did that. Within a very few short seconds we knew exactly who the student was that had thrown the apple. And then Jimmy just proceeded right on down to BOCES,” where the bus was headed.

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