Dodo Freerksen, a well known school bus safety advocate, spent his final days watching the school buses through his hospital window, making sure they all came in that morning. With over 17 years of driving school buses and training drivers in Wolf Creek Public Schools and Wild Rose Public School areas, Freerksen’s heart was behind the wheel of a bus making sure the children got to school safely.
You likely know Freerksen as the guy with the orange safety vest walking through the grocery store as he just finished driving the Allen Olson Auction service bus to and from the parking area, or the guy running into The Bistro to grab his regular clam chowder and egg salad sandwich prior to heading back to Drayton Valley to pick up kids from school, or the guy with the proud smile welcoming the graduates onto the bus that would take them to their Safe Grad. Freerksen was a guaranteed spare driver, which meant he would be called upon to drive any route at any time, and if you had a school aged child who took the bus in the area he very likely drove your child to school in his career.
For Freerksen, it was safety first, and as a trainer he enjoyed telling stories about events that happened on the bus, so the trainee would remember to check their mirrors before moving the bus, count the kids away to ensure they were all in a safe
area, secure the bus when stopped, and promoting that riders stay in their seats.
He was an active participant in the First Ride program and enjoyed helping new riders and anxious parents feel secure that their child would be in good hands on the school bus and said, “Parents need to know their kids are being safely transported.”
Freerksen was instrumental in helping to develop safety and incentive programs to support drivers relationships with their riders, and in the past year was very proud to have had a hand in developing the Rider of the Month program for Wolf Creek Public Schools school bus riders. In Rimbey, this program is funded by the Rimbey Lions Club and offers the drivers an opportunity to nominate a rider to receive a personalized certificate, key tag, and a very nice reward.
For the past 15 years, the Freerksen family has represented the Rimbey area proudly in the ASTAC School Bus Road-eo, and after winning local and provincial school bus competitions, have been the Alberta representative in NSTA School Bus Safety Competitions in Boston, St. Louis, Austin, Minneapolis, Charleston and Tulsa.
In his final International School Bus Safety Competition, Freerksen placed second, and was rewarded with his first international trophy. In his final Provincial School Bus Road-eo, Dodo placed second, relinquishing first place to his son
Jordon, and beamed with pride that the next generation of school bus riders would be in good hands.
Freerksen said, “His goal was to beat me and he did it. We are a competitive family and his mom and I have been competing on the school bus for over 20 years.”
Freerksen was suddenly diagnosed with cancer and given a very short timeline, and in Freerksen tradition, he competed with the disease and won a few more weeks.
At his bedside, his kids joked that he was likely at the Pearly Gates negotiating with Saint Peter, trying to find out which bus route he would get and if he could take on the task of updating the driver training program.
There will be a Celebration of Life held at the Rimbey branch of the Royal Canadian Legion on Nov. 12 at 1:00 p.m.. If desired, a donation to the Rider of the Month Program can be made in person or by E-transfer to riderofthemonthprog@gmail.com. For further details please see the link to his obituary on www.meaningfulmemorials.ca.
-Submitted by Tammy Freerksen