South Dakota bus driver set to celebrate 50 years of work

YANKTON, South Dakota (KCAU)– In 1974, Darrell Mogck saw the Yankton School District was in need of bus drivers and applied. It changed his and his family’s lives forever.

Before joining the district, Mogck had another job which he continued to work at while being a bus driver.

“I was training horses. I’d get customers to bring me horses, I’d condition and we’d show,” Mogck said. “And we went from Oklahoma to the world show down to Wyoming, the state fair, we just South Dakota. We just traveled, the wife and the kids and I.”

It didn’t take long for Mogck to fall in love with his new job.

“I thought, well, I’m just going to try this for a little bit,” Mogck said. “Well, I just kept on and on and just stayed with it.”

Throughout his almost 50 years of hard work, Mogck has trained many bus drivers for the school district, including his own family members.

“The wife was a beautician. She decided she wanted to drive,” he said. “And then as time went on, my one daughter, she decided she was going to drive, so she was a special needs driver. Then her son, and when he got of age, he was a special needs driver. So it was quite a few of us that were working for the school district.”

Over the half century that Mogck has worked, he’s made many memories and couldn’t be happier with his career.

“It’s just kind of cool to see, you know,” Mogck said. “The kids, when they get on the bus, they got a smile and ‘Well, how are you?’ ‘Well, I’m good.’ You know, it was ‘Good day. Good.’ ‘Oh, yeah, I had a good day today,’ and when they get off and stuff, it’s just kind of nice. They keep you young, you know what I’m saying? You never know what to expect.”

Mogck said he has no plans on retiring any time soon, and will only consider it once his body can’t do it anymore.

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