My mom, Elsie Szakal, was born October 25, 1918 at Rawl, WV and passed away on November 7, 1999 at Salem, Virginia. She lived in Cherry Tree for a good part of her life. Elsie Szakal drove Logan County School bus number 50 for 36 years beginning in 1952 and ending in 1989 when she was 70 years of age. Her bus route covered Cherry Tree, White’s Addition and Mt. Gay Junction. She transported students to Mt. Gay Grade School. The older kids were then picked up and tranported to Logan Junior High and Logan High Schools.
Driving through the rain and snow, mom never had an accident and was known for getting her students to school on time. During elections she drove voters back and forth to the precincts to enable people to vote. Of course helping keeping an incumbent in office also added to job security.
— Bob Szakal
In 1921 motorized school buses were bought into Logan County by the Traffic Motor Truck Corp. Before that children were transported to school in horse driven converted farm wagons.
Elsie was my bus driver from the time I was in Kindergarten until the 7th grade. We all loved Elsie although some of the mean kids would give her a hard time and she would take us to the bus garage and make us late for school. I still remember all the holes in the floor of bus #50. You had to really hold onto your belongings. And the craziest thing was when she took us through the flood water at Mt. Gay underpass and the water came in the bus. She smiled and said I told you kids I would get you home.
Hello Malinda, my Aunt Elsie was a wonderful loving person and she would never drive a bus with holes in the floor. All school buses had to be inspected daily for the students safety.She would never drive her bus through flood waters. School was out during the floods.
In Memory of my Aunt Elsie Szakal’s children. Frank Ronnie Szakal, born September 17, 1941 in Cleveland, Ohio. He died January 8, 2019 in Mesa, AZ. Tennie Szakal born August 24, 1951 in Logan,WV. She died August 27, 2022 in Kannapolis, N.C. Ann Szakal ( Crum ), born June 20, 1953 in Logan,WV. She died January 26, 2016 in Roanoke, VA. May they Rest in Peace.
Her husband was Frank Szakal Sr. 1917 to 1958. Born and died in Cleveland Ohio. He was a coal miner.
Elsie was my bus driver, too! I wondered about her, where she was, how she was. Thanks for sharing.
I lived between the two stone bridges and rode #50 school bus from 1955-59,Elsie was so good to all the kids.
Elsie and old Bus # 50 was a big part of my childhood. She was there every school day of my life from 4th Grade at Mt. Gay until my junior year at LHS when we moved to Virginia. All the kids liked Elsie. I think if any politician would have tried to replace Elsie, they would have been rode out of town on a rail.