Darlene Gilligan, a bus driver with RSU 40, prepares to depart Medomak Valley High School on Monday, May 9 after dropping off the students she picked up on her first run of the day. Gilligan has been with the district for 30 years and plans to retire this June. Colleagues praised her kindness, reliability, and commitment to local children. “She is leaving big, big shoes to fill,” said Union Elementary School employee Katie Boynton, who, like many locals, rode the bus with “Ms. Gilligan” growing up. (Molly Rains photo)
Every weekday, Darlene Gilligan, of Union, welcomes dozens of local students to school with a cheery “good morning.” Then, later that afternoon, she bids them farewell with the same care and attention.
Greeting every student individually is a practice Gilligan has kept up over 30 years of driving buses for RSU 40. The kindness this exemplifies is just one of the reasons the district will miss her upon Gilligan’s planned retirement this June, her students and colleagues said.
“One thing we say about bus drivers is they’re the first face that students coming to RSU 40 see in the morning and they’re the last face that students see when they’re getting off the bus,” said Brian Race, RSU 40 facilities and transportation director, honoring Gilligan at a meeting of the district’s board of directors on Thursday, June 5. “It’s an awesome responsibility, and (Gilligan) did it on an amazing level.”
Since starting as a bus driver with the district in 1995, Gilligan has driven multiple generations of RSU 40 students to and from school. There is a lot involved in making this happen, starting at 5 a.m., when Gilligan begins her days. She gets outside before 6 a.m. every day to conduct a thorough examination of the bus and warm up the engine before setting out on her first run of the day at 6:15 a.m.
With her current routes, Gilligan puts about 110 miles on her bus daily, though field trips and extra runs might cause that total to rise on any given day. All the while, she is managing schedules, keeping track of which students are where, and managing their behavior.
But Gilligan likes driving, she said, and her care for each student is evident in many ways – including her students’ reaction to her retirement.
“I don’t want her to retire,” said Orion Bellen, a first grade student who regularly chooses a seat right beside Gilligan at the front of the bus.
“She’s just the best driver we’ve ever had,” said second grade student Gloria Grubb. “We’re sad. We don’t want her to retire.”
Among the attributes that made Gilligan such a standout bus driver, Grubb noted that Gilligan was kind, “keeps us safe,” and, importantly, that Gilligan hands out candy to her bus riders every Halloween.
The occasional sweet isn’t the only thing that Gilligan bestows upon her students. She recently handed out dozens of crocheted animals hand-made for individual riders.
Older students also look up to Gilligan. For many, she has been a fixture throughout their childhoods.
“She has been my bus driver since elementary school,” said Medomak Valley High School student Karis Burns. “She always says good morning, have a good weekend, and goodnight.” Hannah Fecteau, a freshman at MVHS, said Gilligan was “very sweet;” Jaydiin Ruiz, also a MVHS freshman, said her bus was always quiet and calm.
Lincoln Smith, a student at Medomak Middle School, also appreciated Gilligan’s kindness and leadership.
“She’s always nice. She’s not strict, but she keeps the rules in place,” he said.
Among her colleagues, Gilligan is known as reliable, professional, and flexible, Race said, noting that the district can always count on Gilligan, who is known to leave her house on short notice when the district suddenly needs a fill-in driver for a trip.
Bellen said he remembered one time that “Ms. Darlene,” as she is known among her students, “saved the day” by showing up to bring his class on a field trip. The school had found they needed more transportation than they had arranged for, and Gilligan – who lives just down the street from Union Elementary – showed up in short order, she recalled.
Gilligan also served in the RSU 40 central office as transportation director from 2015-2019. Race and other colleagues said she continued to be a well of knowledge on transportation-related matters within the district.
“She drove many, many years, and she’s seen it all. There’s not much she hasn’t seen,” said fellow driver Myrna Soule-Robins, also of Union.
Gilligan said the friends she had made with fellow bus drivers and district staff are among the most valuable things she would take from her years of driving.
“I really have met so many nice people in 30 years. So many bus drivers, past and present, they’re all amazing,” she said.
Union Elementary staff member Katie Boynton rode Gilligan’s bus as a student.
“She’s one of the best,” Boynton said. “We’re all going to dearly miss (Gilligan). She is leaving big, big shoes to fill.”
The job of bus drivers has changed over the past 30 years, Gilligan said. In the years since the COVID-19 pandemic, more parents have begun driving their own children to school – but the bus is still necessary for many families, and Gilligan still must cover a lot of ground to collect all her students.
Additionally, Gilligan noted that children’s behavior is changing, creating an increasingly difficult task for bus drivers who must maintain order. Generally, drivers of RSU 40’s large buses do not have another adult on board to help them monitor children on their regular routes, she said.
Despite the challenges of bus driving, Gilligan is aware of her role’s importance and demonstrates her commitment to the job daily.
“People are depending on us. Not only parents, but administrators, the district. They do count on you, a lot of those parents. Some kids wouldn’t go to school if we didn’t have a bus,” she said.
After 30 years of providing and overseeing this valuable service, Gilligan is looking forward to taking some time for herself. She will spend her retirement with family, including her husband, who retired last year; maintaining her house and garden; and crafting, she said.
“It’s time for a new chapter,” she said. “I’m going to get my house in order and get up when I feel like it.”
