Man helped start bus company for children in Barrington area dies

The Barrington Transportation Co.'s yellow school buses crisscross the Barrington area every day, but few people realize how the company started.

Back more than 60 years ago, during World War II, Alvin Pahlke purchased a taxi to transport local students to school, including to the North Barrington School and Immanuel Lutheran School in Palatine.

When the war ended, his son joined him in providing the service. Alfred Pahlke purchased a school bus and in 1947, they formally started the Barrington Transportation Company.

This week, family members who continue to run the company mourned the passing of their patriarch and founder.

Alfred Pahlke passed away Feb. 29. The lifelong Barrington native, was 90.

"He always thought of it as a very gratifying business, to be able to take children safely back and forth from school," says his wife of 61 years, Lorraine, who worked alongside him, and still works at the company.

In the first few years, the company concentrated mainly on bringing students to North Barrington and Countryside schools, both in the Barrington area. Within three years, they needed three buses to handle all of the students.

"When they got up to three buses, that's when I got my license, and I drove too," Lorraine Pahlke adds,

A typical day for Mr. Pahlke was driving the bus in the early morning delivering children to school, before he returned to the garage to work on the vehicles ensuring their safety. By mid-afternoon, he hopped back in the bus to do the return route.

"That was our life, for many, many years," his wife says.

Before long, Mr. Pahlke added a commuter service to his daily routes. For 17 years, he transported residents from Tower Lakes and the Biltmore Country Club area in North Barrington, to the Barrington train station, to meet the 7 a.m. train.

When they returned at night, he was parked at the station waiting for them. The service cost riders a quarter a ride.

Family members say that as the Barrington area grew, and by extension, Barrington Unit District 220, so did the business.

"He was always proud to serve the Barrington schools for so long," Lorraine Pahlke says, "and he credited that to the safety that he strove to ensure."

Now run by two of Mr. Pahlke's children, Robert and his sister, Sarah Sander, both of Barrington, as well as several grandchildren, the company still serves Barrington school children.

What started with a taxi and one school bus now has grown to a fleet of 130, including 80 full-size and 50 mini-buses. While they provide limited service to Barrington area students attending Elgin Academy, District 220 students make up the bulk of their service.

In fact, of the district's 9,000 students, 7,500 ride buses provided by the Barrington Transportation Co.

Besides his wife and two children, Mr. Pahlke is survived by another daughter, Nancy (Robert) Rohlwing of Cary, as well as eight grandchildren and seven great-grandchildren.

Visitation will take place from 3 to 8 p.m. Friday at the Ahlgrim Family Funeral Home, 149 W. Main St., before an 11 a.m. funeral service Saturday at St. Matthew Lutheran Church, 720 Dundee Ave., both in Barrington.