SHEPHERDSVILLE, Ky. — The Shepherdsville community is mourning the loss of a bus driver for the Bullitt County Public Schools system.
His name is Bob Sageser and he has been driving for BCPS for nearly a decade.
Bob’s family tells us he went to lay down yesterday, and never woke back up. Saying they are told it was from a probable heart attack.
"He was a role model in my life and I'm gonna miss him," Shayla Caldwell, a seventh grade bus rider, said.
For Shayla, Sageser was a bus driver and a role model.
"He's kind of like an older brother that you know, you didn't know you had until you met him. And you're like, wow, you know, that's a good man," Zachary Hovious, a former bus rider said.
BCPS Director of Transportation David Phelps says Sageser and other drivers doubled their routes to make up for a shortage in the county.
"There is a critical staff shortage everywhere. And we're no different. We fight that battle almost every day," Phelps said.
With one less driver to fight that battle, Sageser's legacy lingers in his co-workers - who tell stories of a man devoted to his students' safety.
"I remember one time during summer retraining, I actually got a little bit too relaxed behind the steering wheel and he said, 'Barry, that's not a very good 10 and two. I said you're right, Bob, you know, thanks for pointing that out to me.' So he took this very seriously," Barry Netherton, the BCPS Driver Training Coordinator said.
Sageser stood at well over six-feet-tall, but to the kids who rode his bus, he was nothing short of a gentle giant.
"One of the like, sweetest adults I've ever met. And one of the most understanding adults," Caldwell said.
Now Sageser's bus, number 1326, sits right in front of Roby Elementary School off of the main drag in Shepherdsville. It's a way that transportation workers with the school system want to honor his legacy.
Drivers like Sageser form a link from home to the classroom and former student Zachary Hovious say it's not an easy job but Sageser didn't let it show.
"Well coming from a family where my grandmother is a bus driver, you know, it takes, you know, it takes a lot of respect for people to get on and, you know, take care of other people's kids," Hovious said.
Officials say he actually lived on the route he served. So, Shayla, that seventh grade bus rider, took it upon herself to memorialize the man she said inspired her.
"We did a tribute for Mr. Bob because like I said he has been a really important person in my life," she said.
Many echoing this will be a major loss for the community.
"You know, about Bob, I just, you know, it's just such a big loss. And I'm sure to his family, to his own children, to the students he hauled every day to the schools he served. It's going to leave a pretty big hole and we feel it and they feel it," Phelps said.
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