55 years driving the bus, with no stop sign in sight

By AMY BOWEN, St. Cloud Times

KIMBALL, Minn. (AP) -- Children haven't changed much in five decades.

Just ask Dean Mozena, a bus driver for Hendricks Bus Service in Kimball. He has driven generations of families to school for 55 years.

He loans children lunch money (sometimes they pay him back, sometimes not). He listens to problems. And he calms nerves on busy school days, the St. Cloud Times reported.

"When you're a bus driver, you're a loan officer," Mozena said. "You're a nurse. You're a counselor."

He wished the children on his route a good summer recently on the last day of school. The man who is affectionately called "Deanie" has driven grandparents, parents and children.

The great-grandfather of five becomes a fill-in grandpa to the children on his 34-mile route. He's been quick with the smiles and offers a comforting ear to the children on the same route for about 47 years.

He plans on driving as long as he can get behind the wheel.

"I've got to keep going unless I bring in a death certificate," Mozena said.

Hendricks is a four-generation family business, and Mozena has been there pretty much from the start.

Mozena, 76, started driving when he was 20. Founder H.M. Hendricks asked him to take a route in 1958. The bus service needed drivers, and Mozena was about to squeeze in the work while farming full time.

Later on his best friend, David Hendricks, and his wife, Joann, took over the business. David Hendricks died in 1995, and his wife became the boss.

"He and I always thought of he and I as a brother and sister," Joann Hendricks said. "It's never been boss and employee. It's just been friends."

Tammy Konz, Hendricks' daughter, is a trainer at the bus service, and Mozena has known her all her life.

He's a team leader at the business, which has about 20 drivers and 13 routes, she said.

"He's a little teddy bear," Konz said. "I love him."

When Mozena was young, he even used the bus to woo his wife of 52 years, Karen. He drove the basketball team to Annandale, where she lived.

After dropping off the team, he would pick her up in the bus and take her to the game. She then would ride back with the team, and Mozena would drive her home.

Joann Hendricks laughed at the story.

"It brings you closer to him," Joann Hendricks said. "Fun was cheap back then. You didn't have a lot to do."

During his bus driving career, Mozena and David Hendricks auctioneered together and owned a furniture store. He also worked as a substitute cop and was a charter member of the Kimball Lions Club.

He has always been a great bus driver though, Konz said.

"He cares about the kids," she said.

Mozena makes two runs during the day. He starts at 6:50 for the morning route and finishes up his afternoon route around 4.

Along the way, Mozena listens to children talk about the school day and their home lives.

The route can get interesting sometimes. A dog once chased a goat onto the bus during a stop. A child brought a firecracker onto the bus.

But the stories are part of the adventure Mozena looks forward to every day.

"There's any number of things that are cute," he said. "I've always got along good with kids."

Konz, who happens to be Kimball's mayor, wants to honor her longtime friend. She thinks a "Deanie Day" might be in order.

"He's family," Konz said. "It's cute to watch him blush."

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