With more than 100 employees, and over 150 buses, limousines and motorcoaches that take the Hammond name across Canada and throughout much of the United States, the 62-year-old company that evolved from Orvil’s single taxicab in 1944 has won a number of awards over the years. On October 26, one more was added to the company’s roster. At their annual convention in Toronto, The Ontario School Bus Association presented an award to Orvil Hammond in recognition as one of the forefathers of the provincial organization. The ‘Tribute to Industry Founders’ was the first event of its kind. “The Ontario School Bus Association has been going about 50 years and I was one of the founding members,” says Orvil, who at 77 still occasionally climbs behind the wheel of a school bus and works a route. “They had a special dinner for everyone including the founders of the Association.” Orvil started driving at 15-years-old when most men were overseas during WWII, He started working after school at Muskoka Garage, a gas station and taxi service where his father worked across the street from the Bracebridge Public library. Because of the driver shortage, the teen drove around Muskoka delivering wood. “You could get a 15-year-old license to drive your Dad’s car or for whoever you worked for,” he explains. “You couldn’t have the gas pumps open after 7 p.m. because of the rationing, so we had to fill up big steel cans with gas, and carry them into a shed in the backyard. If the taxis needed gas after 7 p.m., we had to fill them up in the back yard.” The founder of Hammond Transport made his first school bus run in 1947 on Santa’s Village Road to Monck Public School. “I had about 10 kids to pick up, and I still remember those kids and what became of them,” he smiles.