Next bus stop: Retirement

When Steve Hale was a senior at Owatonna High School, he did something unconventional that likely no other senior before or after him can lay claim to. Instead of driving a car like most other seniors do, he drove a full-size school bus to classes.

Hale became a bus driver in Owatonna when he turned 18. And it’s something that has stuck with him ever since. But after nearly five decades of busing, Hale retired on March 28.

In November 1978, while a junior in high school, Hale worked at Wilson’s Clothing in the Owatonna Mall. At the time, Wilson’s had a going-out-of-business sale and Katy Regan showed up to purchase her dad, Bill Regan, some shoes for Christmas. Bill Regan owned Owatonna Bus Co. Hale helped with the shoe transaction.

A few weeks later Katy reached out to Hale in school notifying him that her father wanted to talk to him. Bill Regan wanted to know if he was interested in a job at the bus company. Hale jumped at the chance initially washing buses at the bus garage.

Hale wasn’t a stranger to the Regan family. Their families used to hang out together, and Steve Hale would often share his love of buses with Bill Regan.

“I was a nut about buses in grade school,” Hale said. “When I hung out at the Regan house, I would report to Bill about buses I had noticed going by. One had a bumper loose and another had problems with exhaust. He would look at me like, ‘Who is this kid?’”

Regan went back to the garage and found out that what Hale had told him was in fact true and needed the attention of mechanics.

By the time Hale turned 18 at the start of his senior year, he successfully obtained his bus license and was given a morning and afternoon route. After completing the morning route, he parked the bus outside the school, went to class and came back out after school to do the afternoon route.

“That was a pretty good gig, it really was,” said Hale.

Driving buses wasn’t his first experience with transportation. In his junior year, he drove hearses for funerals for Regan, who at the time owned the hearse business for local funeral homes.

Because of his connection with funerals, Hale initially thought about going into mortuary science. But shortly after attending what is now Minnesota State University-Mankato, he changed to business administration. During his college days in Mankato, Hale continued to drive bus during the week and came back to Owatonna on the weekends to drive bus for Regan.

Route to Texas

In the mid-1980s, Regan secured a government contract at the Johnson Space Center in Houston, Texas. Hale agreed to become the project manager and lead driver in Texas. “I was pretty fired up,” Hale recalled. “I didn’t want to stick around Owatonna,” he added.

But after three years, Hale found that living in the hot and humid weather of Texas year-round was not for him. In December 1988, Hale returned to Owatonna to work at the local bus company and became general manager in 1991. He later took over Regan’s subsidiary, Cavalier Coaches.

Even though Hale has been focused on the motor coaches for many years, he has always been available to substitute on the local bus routes in Owatonna. “I know every single route,” he says. “I can step into any route on a moment’s notice. I don’t even need a route sheet.”

For Hale, the most enjoyable part of the job has been getting to know the people. Besides working with 80 drivers, Hale has many connections around the state through bus organizations and licensing agencies.

And he hopes to continue one important part of the job that rubbed off from Bill Regan. “I want to visit drivers in assisted living centers like Bill always did,” Hale said. “Bill always taught me you have to go see your former employees. It has been great advice, and I have created a bond with them.” Hale has even been asked to deliver the eulogy for one of his former drivers.

Early retirement

Hale, 63, hadn't plan to retire for a few more years. However, in June 2023, he began having eye issues. Since then, he has lost eyesight in the left eye. After six surgeries, doctors warned him that he needed to reduce the stress in his life.

“The concern is not to restore the eye, but to save it,” Hale said. “That rattled my cage. I don’t want to lose my eye.”

Hale decided the best thing was for him to retire from really the only job he has ever known. He stopped driving buses in December.

“For so long, I thought I was the tough guy, and no mishaps would happen to me,” he said. But he knew it was only a matter of time before something could go terribly wrong with him only have partial eyesight.

He added, “It broke my heart to give up the school buses.”

However, Hale knows he has made the right choice.

Hale points to keeping intact the track record of Owatonna Bus Co. During his 47-year tenure and even before, there has never been a serious injury or fatality involving a bus in Owatonna. And he credits that to only one thing. “I truly believe it was Bill Regan’s faith. He prayed for the safety of the kids every morning, and he knew the path to goodness,” Hale said.

After all these years, Hale said he still hasn’t lost his love for buses. “I just had something about them—not sure if it was the color or the sound of them,” he said. “It has never gotten old. You still walk away feeling so rewarding.”

While Hale is stepping away from most of his duties, he will retain a few responsibilities going forward. He will assume some of the janitor duties around the garage, order supplies and he wants to continue picking up the mail at the post office—something that he inherited after Bill Regan died a year ago. Hale said people can expect him riding one of his two bicycles around town.

“I’ll be doing still important, but much less stressful things,” he said.

Another thing Hale plans to continue doing is being involved in the decision-making of whether to call off school or not during inclement weather. He said he is used to being up at 4 a.m. and will drive the country roads on the wintery mornings to decide with school officials.

He is taking the advice of a friend who warned him, “Don’t go into retirement without some sort of routine at least a couple days a week.”

Hale’s influence

Remember Katy who linked Hale to her father in high school? Well, she is now Katy Kreutter and serves as chief executive officer of the company. She credits Hale with providing substantial value to the company through his knowledge, professionalism, public relations and history of all the years and the lessons they have learned.

Kreutter said Hale always had a way of remembering everyone along with their faces and expressions that has walked through the doors over the years. “He will randomly remember a moment, drop everything, imitate that scenario and sometimes the person and tell the story all over as if we were just hearing it again for the first time,” she said. “This leads to many other stories and the laughter starts. This is a fun place to work, and Steve brought much of the fun and laughter to us.”

Kreutter will miss having Hale around. She said his greatest strengths were “his kindness and interest in all others he encounters, his loyalty and love for the industry and for the Regan family.”

She added, “I will miss him very much, but I know he is only a phone call away.”

Hale also has his eye on some Canadian fishing trips. He’d also like to use his “new boat” that’s 26 seasons old and hasn’t nearly been used the way it should, he said.

He and his wife, Julie, have three grown children and five grandchildren.

Hale attributes the success of his long bus career to his family. “I have a great family, and they are very understanding,” he said. Pointing to the lack of focus he often gave to his family because of his demanding job, he said of his wife: “She was definitely a guiding light all these years as we raised our kids.”

He also credits his father, Todd Hale, the legendary voice of Owatonna, for his encouragement throughout the years.