Former Cassopolis supervisor retiring from Lewis Cass
Published 7:18 pm Wednesday, June 30, 2010
By JOHN EBY
Leader Publications
CASSOPOLIS – Arden Withers, Lewis Cass Intermediate School District supervisor of maintenance, grounds and pupil transportation, created the bus program from which he retires June 30 after 24 years.
For 22 years before that he performed a similar role for Cassopolis Public Schools.
He was Michigan’s top transportation supervisor in 2001 and grand marshal of the 157th Cass County Fair in 2008.
His duties will be divided.
Dowagiac Union Schools Transportation Supervisor Kevin Kelm will assume the bus part of Withers’ job and maintenance and custodians will be taken over by Keith Warner.
Kelm “will be 50 percent here and 50 percent in Dowagiac, coming on board in July.
Kevin came from Berrien Springs, so he knows the special ed kids’ needs. That’s going to be a plus.”
“We’re going to do some tractor shows we haven’t been able to see,” he said.
There’s also the snaky 13-car train, the Withers Choo-Choo made from 55-gallon drums, which keeps him busy weekends.
The Choo-Choo, for years a fixture at Dowagiac’s Fun Fest (and Christmas parade), mostly does birthday parties rather than parades.
“Birthday parties, I’m booked solid on Saturdays and Sundays for July and some of August. I’ve got one in Granger and one in Hudsonville for my niece because they haven’t seen it,” Withers said.
He looks after his mother at the nursing home and attends grandkids’ ballgames.
“I do a little repair on tractors and rebuild antique tractors,” he said. “My son (Jeff) will keep me busy. He grows hydroponic tomatoes down in Edwardsburg. Prices are up. Most of his go to Chicago.”
Arden was a “town boy” in Cassopolis.
His folks owned (“Dusty”) Rhodes Parts and Service. “I remember going to the fair to help my dad (Roy) and Dusty in the infield of the little stock car track.”
Arden graduated from what became the middle school named for his mentor, Sam Adams.
Arden was night custodian at the high school when LCISD tapped building trades students to construct its new headquarters on Dailey Road.
Carolyn’s brother, Phil Meiser, makes maple syrup at his place down the road.
Withers said they escaped tornado damage this month.
Carolyn transported children from all across Cass County (“Edwardsburg, Cassopolis and Dowagiac, out almost to Keeler,” she explained in 2008) for the LCISD to the hearing impaired program in Berrien Springs.
Carolyn had to keep the secret during chemotherapy.
“It was totally a surprise,” Withers recalled.
Transportation when Withers started was contracted to local school districts.
“We go to Flint, Niles, Berrien Springs. I run 22 vans on a daily basis and seven buses on a daily basis. All the buses are air-conditioned. When I started it there was no seniority, and if you came from another school you didn’t bring your seniority in. We had the pick of the crop.”
“We do a lot for Michigan Rehab, taking older people to doctor appointments if they don’t have transportation.
“We’re as busy in the summer as during the school year. We started half-day summer school this morning, but it still takes 12 drivers. Plus, service and repairs to get ready for the following year. There are 28 regular drivers. I keep about five subs on a regular basis because we have so many of these little trips.
“I’ve done a lot of driving because our first consideration is when someone breaks down or has a flat tire is getting the kids off the vehicle. We worry about the vehicle after we get the kids off, so that’s what I do a lot of times.”
Withers recalled, “This building was just being constructed when I came on board. In fact, I helped for three or four months, but kids from the whole county built it. This was the last project (building trades) did.”
He figures Colby is the “seventh or eighth” superintendent during his 24-year span.
He runs into Waterkamp at ball games and the former superintendent, who still lives in Edwardsburg near Arden’s son, attended his June 3 retirement party with 150 at the Elks.
There was a smaller Transportation Department dinner for Withers on May 23 at Zeke’s in Dowagiac.
Then, on June 17, he and Carolyn treated the new superintendent, his wife and secretary, payroll office staff, the retired superintendent and his wife, transportation staff with their spouses and bus drivers, including three who retire with him this year, to Das Dutchman Essenhaus in Middlebury, Ind.