001My name is Gerald Martin. I go by Jerry, and currently I drive a school bus for the Central Kitsap School District, Transportation Department. I went to school in a two room schoolhouse in Seabeck until third grade, and then from there I went to West Park. We moved to West Park, and I was there until I graduated from West Park, went to Kearns Junior High School and graduated from there in 1956. And then my family moved back out to Seabeck and where I finished my high school years of Central Kitsap High School, where I graduated in 1959. I got, kind of lassoed and drug into doing some reading for a thespian play. I got a role in the senior play as a junior. I had the second leading role. That memory, to me, is profound because
002it brought me out of my shell. I was a timid kid, country boy, you know? I'm not sure what I knew and didn't know. That was in my junior year, and I had so much fun in my senior year from coming out of my shell and realizing that, you know, you can stumble and make a mistake, pick yourself up and keep going. And nobody it doesn't matter. Well, I was just always retired and I wanted to remain active. I wanted to do something to benefit the community. So I thought, what better to do then to drive a school bus and and I've enjoyed it ever since. My bus route is 312, I pick up kids on Nelitta Hintzville, Seabeck-Holly highway Christopher Road, Church Road. And then I head down through Seabeck past the marina the
003conference grounds and the area where I grew up where the old two-room schoolhouse used to be It means a lot to me to have that route because it started takes me back home in my youth every day. I mean, I just I turn that corner to go across the Seabeck creek And I can just feel a tug on my heart. And it's just it's it's a feeling you can't explain. But it's just the memories out there are so fond.