Lake Park woman helped bus LPA kids for 45 years
By Vivian (Makela) Sazama
For half of her now 90 years, Lavonne Askelson of Lake Park drove a school bus for the Lake Park-Audubon Schools.
“I loved every minute of it,” said Lavonne. “My husband Don used to drive a school bus, and when he left it to work at the Cenex station, I took over his route.”
In 1969, Lavonne was about 35 and a mother of seven children when she studied for her school bus license and took the exams needed.
“I got to drive the bus to my son’s football and basketball games and my daughter’s volleyball games,” she said. “It was a privilege to drive them and then watch the games too!”
When Lavonne was 39 she took four months off to have her eighth child, daughter Sherri.
“My older children watched the baby while I drove the morning route, and my husband took his break time at the Cenex to watch the baby while I drove the afternoon route,” she said. “When Sherri got older she then rode on the bus with me. I drove a regular school bus route for 37 years, then drove the school’s Suburban for the open enrollment kids, for a total of 45 years. I picked some kids up north of Detroit Lakes and by Callaway, and took them to either the Audubon Elementary school or to the Lake Park Middle and High schools.
“There were no automatics back when I started,” she said. “I drove a stick shift. One morning I got to the bus garage and there was a fire in the main garage where my bus was. My bus was no longer drivable. I then got a new bus, #4, and later I drove another new bus, #8. We had really good bosses. Walt Zachariason was my first one, and he’s passed on now. Then we had Barney Wehman, then Al Olds, who is also passed on, and lastly we had Keith Zachariason, Walt’s son. I drove the highway route, south of Lake Park.”
Lavonne was born in 1934 to Eivind and Myrtle Ode, north of Audubon.
“My grandparents were Tom and Clara Kohler and Nels and Maria Ode,” she said. “In 1948 when I was 14 we moved to a farm near Lake Park, right behind the Cenex station, and across Highway 10 from the Lake Park School. I was a cheerleader for Lake Park.”
It was at a basketball game that Lavonne met a young man, Don Askelson, from Felton Schools.
“Don was a good football player. In his sophomore year he was selected for All Conference. He was the love of my life! I graduated in May, 1953 and we were married in September, 1953,” she said.
The young couple lived in Felton for several years, then moved to a farm west of Lake Park.
“We had cows, pigs, chickens, and sheep,” said Lavonne.
In 1959 they bought her parents farm near Lake Park due to her father having heart issues.
“We farmed for 17 years until Don’s back got too bad, then we sold the milk cows and got beef cattle instead. We lived in our farm house until 2006 when we built a new house in our back pasture,” she said.
Lavonne retired in 2014 at age 79. Four years later on May 18, 2018 Don passed away, and in 2019 Lavonne moved into the Sunnyside Nursing Home between Lake Park and Audubon.
Lavonne’s children went on to have successful careers. Her oldest son Steve lives in Texas and is retired. Her youngest daughter Sherri is a legal secretary in Dallas, Texas. Three daughters are nurses. Julie is a nurse at the Sunnyside Nursing Home, Christy is a RN for Clay County in Moorhead and her oldest child Cindy is a retired LPN. Her daughter Lisa lives in Detroit Lakes and her daughter Debbie lives in Lake Park. Her son Doug and his wife Lauri live north of Lake Park. “They’re building a house on Stakke Lake, and are so good to pick me up every weekend. I get to watch their house go up.” Lavonne said.
Lavonne also enjoys going to her great grandsons Jayden, Connor and Brock’s football games. “My granddaughter, Kayla, is the head girls basketball coach for Lake Park, so I enjoy going to their home games too!” she said.
Lavonne has 18 grandchildren, 26 great grandchildren, and soon will have two great, great granddaughters.
Another resident at Sunnyside that Lavonne eats meals with has six children that Lavonne drove a bus for. When asked how the kids on the bus may have changed over the years she drove, Lavonne said, “They were great kids all those years. The parents were great too!”
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