It can be a tough job, with lots of little lives on the line. Olivia Mora did it well, driving a Lubbock ISD bus for 35 years. She passed away last week, but on Monday her family, friends and co-workers at Durham School Services gave her one last ride.
“There wasn’t one student’s name on her bus she didn’t know,” Durham employee Sherri Carlson said. “She was so wanting those kids to succeed that anytime there was an issue, she took it full heart just like if they were her own kids.”
Carlson was Mora’s supervisor for the last 17 years.
“After 35 years it seemed like everything was new. She woud say, ‘Sherri, you would not believe what those kids did today,'” Carlson said. “Every day I’m going to miss her. Every day I’m going to see her sitting in the chair in my office telling me something special that happened that day.”
Mora drove lots of different buses over the years, as new models came and went. Most recently, she drove kids at Bean Elementary and O.L. Slaton Middle School on a brand new bus, #105
“She loved that bus,” Carlson said, adding Mora kept it “immacualte” inside and maintained a high quality of driving.
Carlson was one of dozens of co-workers who showed up to honor Mora, joining her family in celebration and taking photos by her bus.
Then, Mora’s family and her work family climbed on board bus #105 and her other bus #214, riding to her memorial service at San Ramon Catholic Church.
“It’s a beautiful thing,” Mora’s nephew John Gonzalez Jr. said. “She tried other things in life, but this is where she really enjoyed to be and what she really loved to do.”
The buses left the Durham bus yard one last time, this time, taking Olivia Mora home.
