The end of a long road
February 17, 2016
Vaneen McIntosh stands with her fellow bus driver Kay Jefferson after winning a national competition. Photo credit: Wenatchee High School transportation department.
An individual’s journey through life is one path intertwined with many others on a colossal road map.
In bus driver Vaneen McIntosh’s case, this metaphor stood not as a figure of speech, but a reality; her path being the yellow-lined streets of her route, her means of travel a mustard-colored school bus, and her intersections abundant, touching the lives of her three generations of bus riders, her colleagues, and her loved ones.
When McIntosh passed away on Feb. 5, she left behind a legacy of devotion to be celebrated and memories to be cherished.
“Veneen has cared for our community’s kids for [23] years, and loved everyone of them, and remembered them by name,” Transportation Director Marcia Hahn said. “She had a very fulfilling career. To her, bus driving was never a job. It was a passion, and a love for her kids.”
McIntosh was born in Clarkston, and earned her high school diploma from Glendale High School in 1968. After marrying her true love (whom she shared a total of 10 children with), she began her 32-year-long career in transportation in 1984, driving school buses for the Everett School District. She moved to Wenatchee in 1993, starting out working for Link Transit, then moving on to drive for the WSD, eventually earning her way to second in seniority and climbing the ladder to the position of driver trainer.
Bus driver Etta DeJong, who has worked with McIntosh for 10 years, describes McIntosh as an “all-around guidance counselor.”
“For the kids she was a little bit of everything. Mom, grandma, whatever they needed. I’ve always heard she’s helped kids with their homework, consoled them if they’re sad, gave them bandaids if they needed it,” DeJong said. “She’s had the same route all those years, and watched kids having kids having kids. She’s an icon as far as watching generations of children, and having mom, dad, the kids on the bus.”
Outside of work, Hahn and McIntosh shared a dear companionship involving laughter and summer trips to Alaska.
“When we were at work, it was work. When we were outside of work, it was us, it was our friendship,” Hahn said.
Of the bountiful memories shared between the two, a department camp-out at Squilchuck State Park stands out in Hahn’s mind, not because of the camping, but instead a karaoke machine extravaganza.
“She kept elbowing me, “C’mon you gotta sing! C’mon, c’mon!” I made her go up with me. It was such a fun time because we were both so horribly off key, but we had a great time. That was really a special to have fun with her,” Hahn said.
Hahn also reminisces on how the two could never go out in public without one of McIntosh’s graduated or current bus riders spotting her and “giving her a big hug.”
“One of them just the other day, I happened to be in a grocery store with her and this young man came walking up, ‘Vaneen!’ And she turned around, and recognized him. He had graduated probably five years ago. ‘You were my favorite bus driver!’ and he gave her a big ‘ol hug. Here he was in a suit and tie. But, that was one of her kids, you know?” Hahn said. “I think the bottom line is, she shared a genuine interest and care, and the kids knew that, they sensed that.”
On a more solemn note, Hahn also recalls the wave of shock washed over her when she received the news of her friend’s passing.
“Friday we were all laughing and talking through upcoming training that was happening [going to be] starting on Monday afternoon, because she was taking our class out on Monday for the first time behind the wheel. This just really came of the blue. When someone is taken from you that suddenly it puts you in a tailspin,” said Hahn. “[Vaneen] was genuinely beautiful lady, and everyone that knew her loved her. This has hit us all hard.”
Among the table of vintage pictures and letters commemorating McIntosh in the bus office lounge sits a picture of Wenatchee High School mariachi, with a plethora of notes written out by the musicians McIntosh would regularly drive back and forth from competitions and camps.
Junior Esmeralda Mora was one of those faces in the photo, and one of the hundreds of bus riders whose lives McIntosh has impacted.
“Most bus driver are very quiet and don’t talk to us, but Vaneen was different. She would get us pumped up, and sometimes if we’re here at 5 or 6 in the morning she be like, ‘Are you guys ready? Let’s do this!’ She would treat us as if we were her children, and she was very supportive of the group. That’s why her death is so impactful to us,” Mora said.
Mora says washing dishes beside McIntosh at camp stood as her last memory with her bus driver.
“You just never expect when is the last time you see someone. I just remember talking to her and talking about her grandkids. It just hit me. Wow, I was a part of her life, and she was part of mine. Just like little things like that,” Mora said.
The buses that serve the Foothills route and pass by McIntosh’s home have begun honking their horn and waving as they pass twice a day in homage to their lost colleague, who will live on in the hearts of her past bus riders, family members, friends, and the many others whose paths have crisscrossed with hers.