They’re his “bus kids” for life, whether they’re still in school today or the parent or grandparent he drove around 40-some years ago.
That’s how longtime Roaring Fork School District bus driver and former Carbondale Police Chief Gene Schilling thinks of all the students he’s driven to and from school, sporting events and field trips.
Likewise for his brother, Mike Schilling, who hasn’t been driving for nearly as long as Gene, but who still takes fond memories of all the kids, teachers and coaches he’s had on the bus into his retirement.
The Schilling brothers, both Roaring Fork High School alumni, are hanging it up after about 40 years altogether in Gene’s case and 28 years for Mike.
Crystal River Elementary, Carbondale Middle and Roaring Fork High schools all paid tribute to the Schillings with a special day of appreciation on May 20, when they made the rounds, in a bus of course, and were greeted with homemade signs, cards, treats and lots of hugs.
“They can’t find record of when I actually started, but it was 1978. And then I was gone for a while and came back, then had to stop and came back again,” Gene Schilling said of his non-consecutive years with the district’s transportation department.
He joined the Carbondale Police Department in 1983 and a few years later, in 1987, then-Police Chief Fred Williams allowed him to resume driving a regular school bus route on the side.
“I felt it was a good connection with the community, and especially the kids, because then they grow up and have that connection with the police department,” Gene said. “I believe it made a difference.”
He eventually succeeded Williams as police chief in the late 1990s, and though there was a period of time when the Carbondale Town administration didn’t allow him to continue driving a bus, he came back again and kept a regular morning and afternoon bus route, most recently the Marble route.
Today, one of the students on his bus is the granddaughter of a former “bus kid” who’ll be turning 62 this year.
“They’re always going to be my bus kids, no matter what,” he said.
Some of his best memories came with driving the various Roaring Fork High sports teams to games, including the 2021 state championship run for the Rams boys soccer team.
“That was awesome, just being able to take a team to the state championship and being a Roaring Fork alumni myself,” he said. “I called Alpine Bank, and I said, ‘Hey, when we win today, are you guys buying dinner?”
The Rams of course won, and dinner was provided.
Gene also remembers driving to nearly all of the road games for the Roaring Fork boys basketball teams in the mid-2000s for coach Roger Walters, including two state runner-up showings at Moby Arena on the CSU campus in Fort Collins.
Walters came up to Gene on the bus early on and told him something that was about as meaningful as anything anyone has ever said to him.
“I didn’t know Roger from anyone, but we talked for a little bit and then he said, ‘Well, this is what I’m going to tell you. We’re a team, and you need to be part of the team and drive all of our trips,’” Gene said.
“So, for over five years I think I drove for all except for two of their games,” he added.
Brother Mike started driving the bus in 1997 after selling his hunting outfitter business, and with Gene’s encouragement.
“I told him to quit pressing the couch and get a job!” Gene quipped in typical little brother fashion.
Mike said it was actually something he’d been thinking about for some time, but his hunting business kept him too busy.
Once he started, though, he found he enjoyed it as much as his brother — especially seeing the wildlife out on those early morning school bus routes up on Missouri Heights, and then driving for the different sports teams and for student field trips.
“Going to the ball games, and being able to hear the coaches talk behind you, and the thoughts that were going through their heads gave me a whole different perspective and respect for the coaches,” he said.
Mike said he also enjoyed the overnight camping field trips with the younger students, and being able to experience new things himself.
“There are a lot of places in Colorado and out in Utah that I probably would have never seen if I hadn’t driven the bus, like Mesa Verde, or the grasslands out on the eastern plains,” he said. “… and in those days we were younger so we’d camp right there with them.”
Mike admitted there was a little sibling rivalry when the Marble route came open.
“I always wanted that one,” Mike said. “Gene had more seniority but I thought I had a good argument because he had to quit so many times.”
Roaring Fork High’s athletic director, Crista Barlow, said she knew she could always count on the Schillings to get the sports teams to the games on time and safely.
“It was always comforting to know we would have one of them driving, because they always show up on time and get the kids to the games and back without any problems,” Barlow said.
The Roaring Fork School District bids farewell to 20 longtime employees who will be retiring at the conclusion of this school year. They are:
Carbondale
- Dean Black: Custodian, Crystal River Elementary School, 31 years
- Kellie Land: Teacher, Carbondale Middle School, 24 years
- Isabel Loya: BMS, CMS, GSHS, CRES, 19 years
Basalt
- Michelle Collins: Teacher, Basalt High School, 25 years
- Jane Douglass: Teacher, Basalt Middle School, 25 years
- Kerry Williams: Basalt Middle School, 25+ years
- Marisol Henriquez: Assistant Principal, Basalt Elementary School, 21 years
- Enrique Maranon Winder: Basalt Elementary School, 12.5 years
Glenwood Springs
- Craig Denney: Athletic Director, Glenwood Springs High School, 33 years
- Andriana Chance: Teacher, Sopris Elementary School, 23 years
- Tiff Burton: Staff Member, Glenwood Springs Elementary School, 18 years
- Tami McSwain: GSHS, CMS, RFHS, 18 years
- Guadalupe Olivas: Riverview School, 16 years
- Jeanmarie Kanitz: Sopris Elementary School, 10 years
Operations/District Office
- Gene Schilling: Transportation Department, 39+ years
- Tracey Lee: Transportation Department, 30 years
- Mike Schilling: Transportation Department, 28 years
- Nancy Dever: District Office, 26 years
- Richard Hammond: Maintenance Department, 22 years
- Becky McDaniel: District Office, 8 years