2017 Second Extraordinary Session ENROLLED
SENATE RESOLUTION NO. 9
BY SENATOR RISER
A RESOLUTION
To commend C.S. "Cheeze" Hamilton on his fifty-seven year career as a West Feliciana
Parish school bus driver.
WHEREAS, for over fifty years, Cheeze Hamilton took his responsibility of getting
young children to school and safely home at the end of the day very seriously while also
bringing these students into his heart; and
WHEREAS, in 1960 the West Feliciana Parish school board made an exception to
its employment policy and hired nineteen year old Cheeze Hamilton as a school bus driver,
just before his high school graduation, because he, his mother, and his sisters were struggling
to keep their farm and provide for the family in the wake of the unexpected death of his
father; and
WHEREAS, knowing that driving a school bus would require discipline, care,
intelligence, attention to detail, and unfailing reliability, the school board and all who knew
Cheeze, understood that even at such a tender age he possessed all those qualities and would
serve the children well; and
WHEREAS, Wednesday, May 17, 2017, was the last day of the school year, which,
on Mr. Hamilton's bus, meant that the students would receive a popsicle as they got off the
bus at their homes, their treat to mark the end of another school year and celebrate the
beginning of summer vacation; and
WHEREAS, the annual bus driver's dinner was scheduled for the evening of May
17th and, although Cheeze Hamilton kept the announcement of his retirement quiet, word
got out and the event became a celebration of Mr. Hamilton's career, where his friends,
family, and many fans gathered to shake his hand and celebrate his passion for his career,
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the care he took with all the children who rode his bus, and the love that he shared with three
generations of riders; and
WHEREAS, Cheeze Hamilton is known for his big heart, his big hat, and his big
smile with which he greeted every day's precious cargo of children whose parents gratefully
entrusted to him; and
WHEREAS, to the delight of his student riders, Cheeze Hamilton had a penchant for
keeping animals on his bus, including a favorite goat who was tied up next to his seat so that
each child could give the goat a good head-scratch while getting on and off the bus and
various injured birds, turtles, puppies, kittens, and squirrels were rescued by Cheeze and
placed in a shoe box, which would be entrusted to whichever child was sitting in the front
seat; and
WHEREAS, while somehow keeping mostly to his schedule, Mr. Hamilton was
never hesitant to deviate from that schedule in order to do something kind or worthwhile,
modeling for the children the important life skills of kindness, charity, and love; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Hamilton once heard the children teasing a boy for eating raw corn
as a snack and he came to the child's defense, saying that raw corn was a healthy and
delicious snack and promptly pulled the bus over near a cornfield and had the children hop
off and grab an ear of corn, whereupon it was decided that the raw corn was indeed a
delicious treat; and
WHEREAS, Cheeze Hamilton was known to have stopped to help stranded motorists
and to take a child to his own home halfway through his route to have his wife tend to a
nosebleed or a scraped knee, before continuing along his way; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Hamilton drove more gravel roads than paved, especially in the
early years when his route took him along the Mississippi border, and he acquired the skill
necessary to wrangle a twenty-five hundred pound bus out of the mud; and
WHEREAS, Mr. Cheeze Hamilton brought caring, joy, empathy, and an
understanding of the positive impact he could have on the children who rode on his bus to
a job that became his life's work, his passion, and his unselfish gift to the children lucky
enough to have ridden on his bus during his fifty-seven years as a school bus driver in West
Feliciana Parish.
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THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED that the Senate of the Legislature of Louisiana
does hereby commend C.S."Cheeze" Hamilton on his fifty-seven year career as a West
Feliciana Parish school bus driver.
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED that a copy of this Resolution be transmitted to
Mr. C.S. "Cheeze" Hamilton.
PRESIDENT OF THE SENATE
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