Wheels on the Bus

More often than not, for most of his life, Craig Mangus has found himself aboard a school bus.

It was 47 first-days-of-school-ago (in 1970) that Mangis, then 19, was asked to first substitute-drive a bus, ushering students from the Bennet Lake area into Malta to drop them off at school. The following year, that fill-in position became full-time and the Bennet Lake route was Mangis'.

"It was the same route I grew up taking to school," Mangis said. "I used to ride that bus to school and think driving bus wouldn't be such a bad job ...I like to drive, and I thought it would be neat to be a bus driver, but I never thought I would do it all my life."

Mangis, who graduated from Malta High School in 1970, bid for the Zortman to Malta route (a 110-mile round trip) in 1974 and received the work. Since then, Mangis has traveled up and down Highway 191 an estimated 40,000 miles per year on the route (half in the bus, the other half in a pickup driven to get him to and from Zortman.)

"I know this road pretty well," Mangis said.

Of the many people he has given a ride on his buses, none are so dear to his heart than Mary, his wife, who was his passenger during her senior year of high school.

"That is where she would get on the bus right there," Mangis points to a dirt road near a farm. "I went to school with her sister, and I knew her brother, and she was always a little brat then."

The Mangis' have been married for the last 42 years and have two children, Katie and Matt.

"I got to know her on the bus and then we started going together," Mangis said. "It was just meant to happen I suppose. Mary is the main push behind me retiring and I am ready."

Over 47 years of driving school bus, Mangis has traveled many miles and made many friends. Besides children, he has transported milk, car and tractor parts, adults and way back when, the occasional case of whiskey. Normally, Mangis leaves the bus in Zortman and drives his pickup out to the bus to warm it up on school mornings (though for the last ride out to Zortman last Friday, his son-in-law, Greg Skiff, shuttles him to the mountains to get the bus.) Generally, Mangis would get the bus warm and then get back into his truck for a nap, listening to KMMR, using Greg Kielb's 6 a.m. announcement of the National Anthem as an alarm to wake and get on the road. On Friday, Mangis drives the bus down the main drag in Zortman, a bumpy, well-grooved dirt road, and comes to a stop in front of the Buckhorn Store where he picks up his first passenger of the day.

"Good morning," Mangis welcomes his passenger.

"Morning," mutters the bleary-eyed girl as her mother, who looks way more awake and way more excited to see Mangis, waves to him as the doors of the bus close and the vehicle pushes off.

Mangis guides the bus down the road before hanging a right down 7-Mile Road, another bumpy trip which features hundreds of thousands of yellow-flowered peas on either side of the passage. Mangis said that on a clear day in the winter, he feels like he can see clear to Lewistown. On Friday, two joggers make their way past the bus and Mangis waves to them. He pulls the bus up to a four-way intersection connecting the dirt road to Highway 191 (where the Robinson School sat years ago.) Mangis has arrived at the stop a few minutes early so he sits and waits for his passengers to arrive, though they don't this morning. Mangis says that by waiting at this stop until the correct time, the rest of the route will be on time and about half a mile down the highway, a fourth-grade girl gets on the bus.

"Good morning," Mangis says as he closes the door behind her.

Down the highway, the bus rolls, meeting children at their stops along the highway (most of the children are driven to the pick-up from their farm or ranch homes by their parents...though one pre-teen seems to have driven herself to the stop.) A total of 11 passengers make the trip today (10 girls, nine of them taken to the elementary school, and one boy) and at one point, many of the girls spontaneously start singing a pop-tune and Mangis pays the bellowing no attention (he said he has heard the songs 99-bottles of Beer and Wheels on the Bus more times than he cares to mention.) He has put his sunglasses on over his regular glasses - most days he is driving into the sun for both bus trips - and heads north toward Malta. Over the past nearly 50 years, Mangis' daily route has included from anywhere from 20-to-30 children though on Friday, he stops to pick up just 11, but the last day of school is always different than the rest of the year, the route has been 20-strong for the rest of the school year.

In 47 years, Mangis said that there have been hundreds of children he has driven to school for their entire schooling, K through 12, but said that when he recently tried to figure out a total number, the task was nearly impossible. Mangis said when the mine in Zortman was booming, families would come to town for a few months, and then move away as quickly as they came.

"I don't remember all of them," Mangis said. "But I have stopped in every driveway out here and picked up kids at one point or another. It has been a good job."

Though Mangis said he has known for the past few years that he wouldn't drive the Zortman route for much longer, he admitted that the last winter took its toll on him. He said the worst winter he ever saw as a bus driver was the 1978-79 and back then, the Road Department didn't have as many employees or get as much done as they do today.

"There was a stretch there where the highway was closed for 14-days," Mangis said of that winter. "That wasn't the only time it was closed, but that was the longest. And back then, I didn't get paid if I didn't run

I am ready to be done. I am kind of tired and I would like to do something else."

Mangis said that though he is retiring from the Zortman route, he is not opposed to helping out other bus contractors on occasion if they need help. He said that his retirement plans will include blacksmithing at the shop at his home and working at the Glass Shop in Malta with his father, Ned (though the duo is looking to sell the business, so interested buyers should call and inquire at 654-1720.)

"Then there are a lot of people who want me to drive a tractor, or swath, I've got plenty to do," he said. "I will always find a way to stay busy."