BOY SCOUT BUS, 1962

Before vans became popular to transport groups of people around, old school busses were often purchased from school districts by churches and scout groups to accomplish that mission. Often these old school busses had reached their mileage limits, and were showing hefty indications of Michigan rust, as well as having mechanical problems. Still, having a bus of your own added prestige and identification of your group to the public. As a youth growing up in Albion, I remember our church bus (formerly an Albion Public Schools bus, of course), was so rusty, that the wheel wells were rusted through and you could actually put your foot through the floor and touch the tires! You could also feel the back of the bus "rise up" on a bump because the shocks were worn out, or else the cabin was loose back there. That is a story in itself, however.

Albion once had numerous Boy Scout troops and there were numerous sponsors. One of them was Albion Boy Scout Troop 119, sponsored by St. James’ Episcopal Church. In August, 1962, the Troop purchased a 1946 Chevrolet bus from Scout Troop 18 of Parchment, just north of Kalamazoo. The latter had outgrown their 32-passenger bus, which had seen more than one owner during its lifetime. Originally, it was owned by the Parchment Schools. It then was sold to a church, and then to Troop 18, and finally to the Albion troop. Fortunately, the Parchment troop had replaced the original motor with a 1953 Chevrolet motor.

Arranging the purchase of the bright blue and white bus was scoutmaster Carl Kubicek, assistant Controller at the local McGraw-Edison plant on N. Clark St. The bus was subsequently used to transport the scouts to various events and camping trips.

From our Historical Notebook this week we present a classic photo of the happy scouts and their leader ready for an excursion on their new bus in August, 1962. Left to right: Bill Davey, Dave McCune, Scott White, Tom Patterson, Dave Kubicek, Doug Kubicek, Dave Hull, Dave Schermer, Jim Kosko, and Jim Geyer. Scoutmaster Carl Kubicek is show standing in the entrance to the bus. How many of our readers had a church bus or a scout bus you rode on while growing up in Albion?

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