Date: Fri 06-Sep-1996

Publication: Bee

Author: DOTTIE

Quick Words:

schools-Willie-bus-stop

Full Text:

SCHOOLS: Three Decades Later, The Willies Are Still Waiting For The Bus

B Y D OROTHY E VANS

In 1963, when Andy and Rita Willie first built their home at the dead end of a

dirt lane called Butterfield Road, there wasn't much to be seen but big trees

and Peter Feli's large herd of milking cows. And, of course, the lovely,

rolling hills of Bridgewater, gracing the northern horizon.

"It was all open farmland then. The only other house on the whole road besides

ours was the Fullem's," recalled Mr Willie a week ago, as he stood at the

corner of Butterfield and Parmalee Hill Road, surrounded by his children and

grandchildren.

It was Friday, the second day of school, and the youngest Willie grandchildren

were waiting for the Sandy Hook school bus at its regular stop on the corner

of Butterfield and Parmalee Hill Road.

Mr Willie and his wife, Rita, were there with four of their five children, who

were the youngsters' parents.

"Now our children are waiting here for their children, just like we did for

them," said Mrs Willie.

She was referring to the unusual fact that four of her children, Tod, 41, Jay,

37, Amy 37, and Kim, 34, have all returned to live near home, in houses built

nearby the original Butterfield Road homestead.

"All the grown-ups, including Grandma and Grandpa, who still live here, take

turns meeting the various buses with the children," Mrs Willie said.

"Our neighbor, NoriAnn Feli, who lives across the street from the stop, says

it's a wonderful thing to watch the second generation growing up outside her

window," she added.

Mrs Willie said that Friday's bus stop reunion was really only the latest in a

30-year series of Willie school sendoffs from this very spot.

To be more accurate, she pointed out, the Butterfield stop has actually moved

a couple of times. Instead, it's the Willie children who have stayed put.

She explained that in 1963, when Dru was nine and Tod was seven, there were so

few families living in that quiet northeastern nook of Newtown that the school

bus came only as far as the corner of Butterfield and Currituck roads.

That was a long way from their house, she remarked - more than a mile - so the

town hired Mr Feli to pick up the two Willie children (along with the two

Watkins and the two Obers) and transport them to the Currituck stop.

Sometimes, Mr Feli came in a tractor pulling a sled," Jay Willie recalled,

remembering the days when it was his turn to join the others.

"There used to be a little wooden bus shelter there. It was so small only

three of them could fit at one time. In cold weather, they took turns," Mrs

Willie said.

And if it wasn't the cold weather, it was the cows, she added.

"Sometimes I'd be driving them up Butterfield Road to meet the Feli car and

our driveway would be full of cows. We'd have to wait until the road was clear

- always a welcome sight," said Mrs Willie.

"Once in awhile, the cows would get confused and mill around the car until

they figured out where to go. That was always fun," she added.

Several years later, the bus stop was moved down Butterfield Road to the

corner of George's Hill Road, a little closer to the Willies' home.

But even then, getting there wasn't always easy.

"We were always the last ones to be plowed out when it snowed. The snow would

drift up waist-high off the meadows into the road, and we wouldn't get out

into civilization for a day or two.

"When they finally did get out, they found the rest of the world was still

going on about its business. It was a cozy feeling," she recalled.

Kim Willie Pearce remembered playing hide-and-seek in the corn stalks of the

Feli's field, when the stop was moved a second time, to its present Parmalee

Hill Road location. She pointed to the high knoll near the corner, where the

Feli's home now stands and where their yellow lab, Killian, romps on a grassy

lawn behind their split rail fence.

Kim said she's glad Butterfield is still a dirt road, going downhill in front

of her parent's home.

"I used to kick a stone all the way home from the bus stop," said Amy. Now she

watches Kim's daughters do the same thing.

Amy also remembers the cows and, in particular, a bull that hung out around

that corner and wouldn't let her go home once.

"I ran to the Kotch's house until he went away," she said.

Then, her recollections interrupted, she stepped forward to help her son,

Andrew, straighten his bookbag and get ready. The bus was coming, someone

said.

As the mists curled skyward out of the valleys and the early morning sun rose

higher, the next generation of Willies prepared to board the school bus. It

was an occasion for reflection on the part of their parents.

"You get here and you don't want to leave," said Kim Willie Pearse, who is

living with her parents but hopes to build along Butterfield Road soon.

"I guess I've come full circle," said Tod Willie, who just completed his new

house on that road three months ago.

His son, Tony, attends Newtown Middle School and his oldest boy, T.A., is a

freshman at Newtown High School.

"Sometimes it feels the same, sometimes it doesn't," he said.

When he sees all the new houses, then he knows how much time has passed, he

said.

Actually, the Willies, and several of their neighbors, weren't very happy when

the town decided recently to cut Butterfield Road through to Hanover Road.

"We fought it," said Rita Willie, adding "But what could you do?"

As she spoke, the children climbed on board the bus in a calm manner, ready to

start their school day.

Their parents hovered nearby and their grandparents, Rita and Andy Willie,

waved and blew kisses - just like they've been doing at Butterfield Road bus

stops for more than 30 years now.