BRUNSWICK

Ted Carver decided to work as a bus driver after leaving the military, because he said he wanted a job with longevity. Apparently, he found it.

Carver has been driving Brunswick school buses for 43 years, and is now retiring.

“I love it,” Carver said. “I love the kids, being around the kids. And the people I work with. … I couldn’t imagine doing anything else.”

He has had the same West Brunswick route through his career consisting of Durham, Brackett, Lunt, Collinsbrook and Hacker roads, having driven those roads thousands of times, enough so he “knows every nook and cranny,” he said.

Carver has transported children in all grades, but said he has a soft spot for ele- mentary-aged students.

“The youngest ones are the most fun,” Carver said. “You never know what they’re going to do or say.”

Patience is more than a virtue in his job, it’s a requirement, Carver said.

“You have to love kids,” he said.

“The kids love him,” said driver Donna Dumas. “They come off the playground shouting, ‘Mr. Ted! Mr. Ted!’ And he’s taught me a lot.”

“It’s a career rather than a job,” said fellow driver Mark Harpell.

Carver spoke on June 18, the last week he would be driving for the district. He sat in a well-worn classroom chair known as “The Cave Man” after the inscription some long ago student carved into the seat. The chair is passed down between drivers.

“Last year, I took it home, sanded it down, and refinished it,” Carver said.

The driver before Carver sat in that chair between routes for 42 years before passing it on to Carver. Carver said he plans on passing it on to someone else.

To express their appreciation, Carver’s fellow drivers threw him a surprise party on Saturday. About 50 to 60 showed up for the occasion, including former school Superintendent James Ashe, according to Harpell.

As a going away present, they gave him a golf cart, painted school bus yellow. Carver lives in Lisbon Falls, but plans to spend his retirement between Florida in the winter and his camp in Eddington.

Carver said he has driven three generations of Brunswick families to and from school every year.

“I’ve got kids of kids of kids,” he said.

Town Councilor John Perreault remembers being a Brunswick student and sitting in the back of Carver’s bus.

One of the best things about Carver, said Perreault, was he knew when to let kids have fun, and when to discipline them.

Carver has also been the driver for Perreault’s children. As a parent, Perreault said it was a relief to know his children’s bus driver was the same as the one he had growing up.

“It made it easy when my kids went off to kindergarten,” Perreault said. “Honestly, I could not imagine my kids with another bus driver.”

Perreault added that Carver’s retirement is well deserved, but was saddened that he wouldn’t be driving Perreault’s youngest daughter through the rest of her Brunswick school years.

“The town of Brunswick is very fortunate to have a lot of longtime bus drivers,” Perreault said. “Our route will sadly miss Ted Carver.”

jswinconeck@timesrecord.com