If you were riding a bus west on I-70 with Larry Propst in the driver’s seat, you could count on a stop at Exit 101. That’s where the Russell Stover store is, and where Mr. Propst would always pull in to allow his passengers to taste a few samples. He’d always pick up a little treat for the woman he called his “girlfriend,” as well.
“He was a huge chocoholic,” said his wife of 48 years, Rebecca “Becky” Propst. “He would buy it for me, but he’d be the one who’d eat most of it. He ate so much chocolate!”
Mr. Propst died at age 75 on New Year’s Day at his Festus home, following a long struggle with Lewy body dementia, a form of Alzheimer’s disease.
Since Huskey Trailways began in 1996, Mr. Propst’s familiar smile was the first thing many passengers saw when boarding for away basketball games, casino runs, school tours or any number of different trips.
“If you said, ‘Hey, Larry?’ he’d be ready to go,” Kent Huskey, 49, owner of the bus company, said. “One year, I think he spent three out of four weeks every month in Branson. He’d haul one busload down, come back, turn around and grab another group. Between that and charter groups and school trips, he just drove all over the place.”
Mr. Propst was a retired auto worker with Chrysler Corp.
“He drove for the St. Louis-Cape bus line when Chrysler would go down (for layoffs),” Becky said. “Then he drove the church bus for First Baptist Church, and he drove some for Karl Huskey when he had the contract for the Crystal City school buses.”
“He took over for me when I broke my leg one time,” Kent said. “After my dad lost the (Crystal City) contract, Larry went out and drove for R-7.”
When Kent started up his coach bus business in 1996, Mr. Propst quit at Jefferson R-7 to go to work for his friend’s fledgling firm.
“He and Kent were the only ones at first,” Becky said. “They had one old green coach bus, and the two of them would take turns driving school routes in the morning, then drove teams and groups around.”
From his late 50s through his early 70s, Mr. Propst wrangled luggage and hopped on and off motor coaches like a much younger man.
“He was in great physical shape,” his wife said. “He was a big baseball guy; he played until he was 57 years old.”
The Propsts met when both worked in the checkout lanes at the A&P grocery store in Festus.
“It was love at first sight,” Becky recalls. “It was like we were made for each other. He was a sweetheart from the word go.”
Young Larry was a power-hitting second baseman for the Twin City Reds when he got a tryout with scouts from the Pittsburgh Pirates.
“But somebody told them he had a bad arm,” Becky said. “The scouts didn’t follow through then the way they do now; they would just kind of pick up people on their way through. So he didn’t get to go.”
Kent Huskey said he recalled Mr. Propst talking about having played baseball for the Army team when he was in the service.
“Whenever he hauled college baseball teams to games, they’d have him do the stats,” Kent said. “He knew an awful lot about the game.”
In 2005, Mr. Propst was diagnosed with throat cancer.
“The doctors couldn’t get over it,” his wife said. “He never had a drink in his life or smoked a cigarette. But he came through the surgery and recovery with flying colors.”
Kent recalled how Mr. Propst incorporated his cancer treatments into his regular day.
“He’d drive a bus in the morning, then he’d stop off at the hospital and get his radiation treatment,” he said.
Although Mr. Propst was quickly back on the job, it wasn’t long before family and friends noticed his increasing memory problems.
“Three years ago, he stopped driving. He didn’t want to give it up,” Becky said. “It was tough on him.
“Lewy body dementia is just the worst kind of dementia you can have. I think him being in such good physical health is what held it off for so long. But, once he stopped working, he started going downhill pretty fast. The day I told him he couldn’t drive any more was one of the worst days of my life.”
Mr. Propst was a deeply faithful man and an active member of New Testament Baptist Church in Festus, where he was a deacon. But his religion wasn’t just for Sundays; he lived the philosophy put forth in his Bible.
“As the driver, he always got meals free,” Becky said. “He would always get a big order of fries. Then he’d pass them out to kids who needed extra. He would buy food or give money for food to kids many a time.”
He had a lively sense of humor, as well.
“Every time he’d sign for his paycheck, he’d always say, ‘You better keep that – it’s likely to be worth something some day,’” Kent said.
What many people remember most fondly about Mr. Propst was his ever-present smile.
“Every picture I have, he has a big smile on his face,” Becky said. “Two of our grandsons have that same identical smile; the third looks just like him. And they have that same wonderful kindness of spirit he had.
“Larry could put people at ease. All the women loved him – I had to be patient with that.”
Even when he wasn’t driving, Mr. Propst loved to be on the go.
“He loved to go on cruises. We went on 19 or 20 of them,” Becky said. “Which was kind of funny, because he did not like water. When they did the life-jacket drill, he cinched that thing up so tight!
“On this one, we did this Olympic basketball challenge. They put this real young guy with us, and he looked at us like, ‘Oh Lord, I’m stuck with these old people.’ He said, ‘I’ll go first and we’ll put her – pointing at me – last.’
“Well, we came in first place and got a gold medal – and he didn’t score one basket. Old people – hah! Larry got a real kick out of that.
“I loved him so much. He was one in a million.”
“Life Story,” posted each Saturday on Leader Publications’ website, focuses on one individual’s impact on his or her community.