Hammonton resident Patty Miller celebrated her 40th anniversary as a school bus aide for Moorestown schools earlier this month.
“Each day, each hour of my years was always different; I never knew what I was going to be doing when I started out,” she said. “I would just ride the bus and take notes, write down directions because there was already somebody else in the office typing them up for the next person … It’s just an adventure each day doing each run.”
Miller’s siblings – sisters Cathie and Laurie and brothers Chuck and Dave – threw a surprise party for Miller at the high school, with friends and colleagues in attendance. Miller’s brother Dan passed away in 2015, but was there in spirit, Laurie said.
If Chuck could tell Patty one thing about the milestone, it’s that he’s proud of her.
“Everyone’s born with their gifts and their own challenges and such, and Patty really took what she was handed and just made a wonderful thing of it,” he explained. “She’s been such a blessing to the students and to the school, and she really found her place and plugged in and I’m just very proud of her for that.
“It’s quite an accomplishment.”
Miller enjoys riding with and getting to know the students, who refer to her as Ms. Patty, and she doesn’t forget a face. Another quality she loves about the job? Knowing she can be counted on by her peers.
“She loves that the bus aides in particular who have not been there for as long come to her for advice, and (she’s) very proud of that, that she knows all the original training and how things should be done,” Cathie noted.
“She is also very proud that she knows all the routes and all the best ways to get around Moorestown,” Laurie added. “… She’ll get siblings and she remembers them and she takes a lot of pride in remembering those kids and seeing them through their different stages.”
To Dave, Miller’s 40 years with the school district show her determination in something she’s always put first.
“She loves her job,” he stated. “She just loves being relied on. When she couldn’t go to work, she would feel bad. She had banked up hundreds (and) hundreds of sick days, but she never took the days off. I remember it was a big deal when she finally took a sick day, so she’s very proud of her job.
“She does a good job.”
Like Chuck, Cathie is proud of Miller for how she loves the students deeply, and Laurie hopes Miller’s colleagues see her the way her family does.
“While we don’t interact with pretty much any of her co-workers or anything like that,” Laurie pointed out. “We hope that they see her as special as we see how special she is.”
Miller’s advice for people in the workforce?
“Go for what you like,” she advised, “what you want. And it’ll just flow right through.”
