Wesley Gerald Robison & the School Bus

You know they say, that a picture is worth a thousand words, and this can be so true. A picture can also bring up a thousand questions, and make you wish, that you had listened more carefully, to your grandmothers stories, while you were growing up. No picture  in my collection, has stirred up more thoughts, of how I wish I knew more, than this one of my father, standing in front of a school bus. I have always wanted to know more about this picture, and as fate would have it, today, a little window was opened, on the past, "quite by accident", (if you believe in such things), that was going to shed some light, on this very subject.

It all began with my twin sister, who had the same exact wish, to know more about this picture, as I did. She knew, that dad, Wes, had worked for a company called, "Quitslunds", right out of high school, and yet could never get a lead on the company, or what it was, that they did exactly?! Well, today would forever change all that.
Here is dad, Wes, age 17-19, standing in front of the school bus, mentioned above.

This morning, when we were chatting, via video chat, we got on the subject, of dad and this picture, and a company he worked for, called, "Quitslund's." Sis told me about an obituary she had recently seen, that mentioned a fellow named Fred Marshall, who had been a manager of, Quitslund Coach and Body Corp., of  North Bend, Washington. This immediately triggered my memories, of Grandma Lillie, telling stories, of how dad got a job working for them, right out of high school. But like my sister, I couldn't for the life of me, remember exactly what Quitslund's did?! We knew dad worked in sheet metal, and he worked for some bus company, but not much more.
This made me dig up this picture again, and take a closer look. Together, Sis and I went Foogling, to see what we could find. The result was marvelous!


The first thing to come up, was this flyer, from the Wayne Bus Bodies for Dodge "Job Rated" Chassis, as seen above. This is one, of the many bus bodies they made. The picture, is of one of their customized versions. We were very delighted to note, that this is the same bus, that dad is standing in front of, tho his version, is the standard, so is missing some of the finer details. They made this body from 1948 - 1952.

This works perfectly, with our information on dad. We know he graduated high school, from Mt. Si High, in Snoqualmie in1948. We know from Grandma Lillie, (his mother), that he went to work for Quitslund's. Here on the company flyer, under the name of Sales & Service Reps., From Coast to Coast, is the very company dad worked for. So now we know, that the company grandma talked about, was the very same company, that dad worked for, where he helped build and repair buses, for, "Quitslund's," who sold this bus, to the North Bend, Washington, school district.

So, if Fred Marshall, mentioned above, was a foreman of Quitslund's, when dad was working for them, he could even have been dads boss.

"The wheels on the bus go round and round!"

YIPPY SKIPPY!!! One more small, family mystery solved.


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