Bernie Donovan wasn’t just employed at Bureau Valley High School. He was the heart beat of the school district.

The longtime custodian/bus driver kept things lively in the hallways, the bus barn and on the bus.

For many of the students, his warm smile and laugh were the first things they saw and heard in the morning and the last before heading home in the afternoon.

Always thinking of others, Donovan took a turkey dinner to a family in need this past Christmas.

He was much beloved by one and all.

The Bureau Valley staff is fondly remembering Bernie, who passed away on Tuesday, Feb. 24 at the age of 67.

Superintendent Jason Stabler said Donovan will be missed greatly.

“He left a lasting mark on our school community, and we are better for having known him,” Stabler said. “Bernie was a true fixture in the Bureau Valley community. He genuinely loved our students and staff, and that was evident in the positive attitude he brought to his route and our buildings each and every day.”

Stabler said Donovan was the kind of person who did countless things for others without ever seeking recognition.

“He simply loved coming to work. He was the only person who ever gave me a hard time for calling a snow day because, as he put it, he was ‘stir crazy at home and needed to get to work,’ ” Stabler said. “To Bernie, he didn’t have to go to work — he got to go to work. He often told anyone who would listen how much he enjoyed his job."

BV Transportation Director Paul McMahon said Donovan’s unexpected death hit the staff and students hard at Bureau Valley.

“Everybody loved him. He was just so sincere and genuine,” he said. “He wanted to know how to help. Bernie served the community and the school. Just dedicated. He would come in at 4:30 in morning on a negative 20 day to start school busses. Bernie said that way it’s warm when the driver gets here.”

“Everyone’s suffering that he’s not here anymore. He just reached the whole part of Bureau Valley. He was part of that heart beat at Bureau Valley.”

Everyone at Bureau Valley has a “Bernie Story,” and frankly there’s too many to count. He always had one more “Bernie Story” to tell you.

He made the first pot of coffee for the bus barn every morning, a classic “First in, Last out guy.”

Co-workers knew you couldn’t stop him if he was on a mission, replying with his trade mark, “I gotta go, I gotta go!”

He always checked into the bus radios in the morning with a loud “sounds good!”

He was the first person to call to provide help if someone had a flat tire or stuck in the snow or if they needed their bus fueled up.

He always did a great job teaching the high school kids who came on for summer custodial help every year.

“He is not one that can be replaced,” BV Assistant Technology Coordinator Ryan Carlson said.

McMahon said there was no question who was going to win the bus barn’s MVP (Most Valuable Person) award at the office Christmas party every year.

“Everyone knew it was Bernie. You didn’t have a chance to beat Bernie,” he said.

McMahon had the unenviable task of taking over Donovan’s morning route the day after he passed. He found the bus ready to go just as Bernie left it.

“Bernie rarely ever missed. Finding someone who knew what Bernie did was tough. Just never had to sub for him,” he said. “So, I get up in the bus. It’s full of fuel, full of fluid. It’s swept out. There wasn’t anything on the floor. There’s no dirt. And the sub list was right there by my foot. The guy who never missed was ready for a day he missed.”

McMahon quickly found he had big shoes to fill. He said the first kid he picked up on the route was a little kindergartner, who asked, “Where’s Bernie?” He said others said that it wasn’t that they didn’t want to see him, but “it’s supposed to be Bernie’s bus. If you saw Bernie’s bus and you were in it, then it was kind of reality hitting.

“It was a terrible morning trying to get through it and trying to get the staff through it. It hit hard.”

Stabler opened the February school board meeting on Wednesday, Feb. 25 asking for a moment of silence to honor Donovan.