Man was the engine behind local bus company
His name never appeared on the side of a bus, but Richard Bingham had a hand in building one of the most recognizable school bus services in the Northwest suburbs.
As the former president of Davidsmeyer Bus Service, based in Elk Grove Village, he helped build the company that at one time transported as many as 3,000 Northwest suburban students to their schools.
Mr. Bingham died Sunday. The 50-year resident of Elk Grove Village was 72.
In all, Davidsmeyer Bus Service provided transportation for elementary and high school students for more than 60 years. The company began in 1947, when Norman and Georgia Davidsmeyer started transporting children in central Illinois.
As schools in rural farm communities consolidated, they depended more on bus service to transport students. However, when a contract became open for Elk Grove Township Elementary District 59, around the time O'Hare International Airport opened, the couple saw expansion opportunities and moved north.
Their daughter, Karen and her husband, Mr. Bingham began working with them, doing everything from driving the buses and dispatching drivers, to servicing the vehicles in their warehouse facility on Higgins Road in Elk Grove Village.
"My mother and father started the business, and my husband and I joined them," Karen Bingham says. "We all worked together for years." Before long, Davidsmeyer added the Northwest Suburban Special Recreation Organization contract to their routes, transporting children with special needs from their public school district to NSSEO schools in Arlington Heights, Palatine and Wheeling.
The company also won the contract to transport special education students attending Northwest Suburban High School District 214 schools.
Despite their longstanding commitment to service, the larger transportation companies began to win their routes. Their last one, driving district 214 special education students, ends in June.
Karen Bingham, who now serves as president of Davidsmeyer Bus Service and American Consolidated Transportation Co., said that under Mr. Bingham's leadership, the company grew in other ways. They started Central States Coach in 1975, which with its 11-bay service barn in Elk Grove, offered maintenance to charter bus fleets, motor homes and entertainment coaches.
They also added open road charter buses and motor coaches to their fleet - under the umbrella of American Consolidated Transportation Co. - and added locations in Dallas and Denver.
"Although he had retired, he continued to help out wherever he was needed," his wife said. "He just couldn't stay away."
Besides his wife, Mr. Bingham is survived by his sons Robert and William, and four grandchildren. He was preceded in death by his daughter, Kimberly.
Services were held previously.