Veteran Henry County Bus driver to retire

By: Jim Cook | Dothan Eagle
Published: October 27, 2011

Generations of schoolchildren in the Shorterville area have greeted bus driver Queen E. Mills by saying “Hey muh,” after being picked up on her morning bus route.

In just a few days, that tradition will end when Mills retires after 30 years of transporting Henry County’s schoolchildren safely to school each morning.

“It’s time to go to the house,” she said.

Mills said she looks forward to sleeping in on mornings once she retires. Mills typically gets up at 3 a.m. each morning to cook breakfast before hitting the road. She said going to bed and getting up early were habits ingrained in her from her years of working in agriculture.

Mills started driving a bus in 1981. She said it wasn’t hard for her to learn to drive a school bus as she had driven a pulpwood truck while working in agriculture. In Mills’ 30 years of driving a bus, she said many things have changed, some for good and some for ill.

Mills said buses have improved greatly since she first drove a 1976 model bus in the early 80s. She said the change from manual to automatic transmissions in buses have been a boon to drivers, putting less stress on their knees.

“It’s a miracle,” she said.

Kids have also changed in the past three decades, and not for the better, Mills said.

Mills said children today are more challenging to handle and that she often feels like a second mother to the students who ride her bus.

Mills has had an advantage in dealing with her students, however. She lives in the same area where her route lies, and often sees parents on her route in the store and at church. Mills said she’s quick to inform the parents, many of whom rode her bus back when they were students, of misbehavior by their children.

“They already know what time it is,” she said.

Although she admits modern children can be difficult, Mills said she enjoys the role she’s been able to play in their lives.

“I love every one of them,” she said.

Dennis Brand, transportation supervisor for the Henry County Schools, said many bus drivers look up to Mills and that she’ll be hard to replace.

“She led the team,” he said. “She was the queen.”