It’s an all-too-common scenario: Marlie Sullivan, a communications major, has overslept. She was up late writing her senior thesis. There’s the mad dash out of bed, out the door without breakfast. From The Village Residence Hall, she is faced with an uphill trek to Stillwell Science Building. It’s a 15-minute walk. Oh, and it’s raining. But, coming around the corner is a purple and white bus. It’s the Cat-Tran shuttle, Western Carolina University’s on-campus transportation system, and it’ll speed Sullivan straight to class. “In my time at WCU, the Cat-Tran has saved me a bunch,” Sullivan said. “Especially when I lived at The Village.

Life is busy and I would accidentally sleep in, more than I’d like to admit. Of course, I’d be in a big rush and would need to get to class fast. Now, thanks to the Cat-Tran, no doubt, I’m graduating.” Apart from ushering tardy undergraduates to class, the Cat-Tran serves a myriad of students, including those with mobility issues. From 7:30 a.m. to 3 a.m., the shuttles circle campus like clockwork. And, for those who need essential goods or groceries, the “Shopping Shuttle” runs to Walmart and Ingles once a week. “The Cat-Tran is one of the best investments Western has made,” said senior computer science major Nick Benton. “The direct benefit to students is huge, the ease of access to transportation is really helpful.”

What makes the Cat-Tran special, however, is the people who drive the buses. “Overall, the drivers are upbeat, awesome people that literally pick us up, but also help pick us up if we’ve had a bad day or anything like that,” Benton added. Take Max Bennett, for example. He has a big smile and soft-spoken demeanor. He’s kind and greets every student when they climb onboard. Like many drivers, he’s retired and has found a way to stay active in and connected to his community. Max is no stranger to serving others — he worked on Air Force One for 11 years under three different presidents. After working in the Air Force as an aircraft mechanic for 12 years, he was cross-trained as a flight attendant. “I had to go to survival school and earn my top-secret clearance before I started training as a flight attendant,” he said. “I wasn’t immediately on Air Force One. I was flying with Madeleine Albright, Secretary of State at the time. We were in Vietnam visiting the Hỏa Lò Prison, sometimes called the Hanoi Hilton.

That’s where John McCain was a prisoner of war. We bumped into (Bill) Clinton’s presidential crew there and their commander said he wanted to hire me for Air Force One. From then on, I was only with the president.” Over the next decade, Bennett served with Clinton during his last six months in office, President George W. Bush for eight years and President Barack Obama for two-and-a-half years. “It’s neat to see presidents in a relaxed mode. They don’t want to wear a suit all the time. It’s different to see them in a t-shirt and shorts or a pair of sweats,” Bennett said. After a career in the military, Bennett said the Cat-Tran has been a great way to spend his retirement. He said the camaraderie with the other drivers makes it easy to come to work. “It’s like your second family here. We all get along. We keep up with each other if anything’s going on, take up a donation if someone needs help. We’re here for each other and we’re pretty close,” he said.

In Bennett’s case, the other drivers are actually family. He recruited his older brother, Lee, to join him two years ago. “I never thought about becoming a Cat-Tran driver,” Lee said. “I didn’t want to. I said that I’d never learn all those routes. I know them all now.” Lee said his favorite part of the job is the students. “I like the interaction. One student, we talked a long time. I saw him a lot. He didn’t want to go to class.” Lee said. “I finally told him, ‘Look, just hang in there and it’ll pay off for you.’” Sometime later, Lee and his wife of 45 years were eating at a restaurant in Sylva when he saw the same student. “He came to my table and said he was graduating and going into the Air Force as some kind of engineer,” Lee said. “I went to talk to his mom, to tell her how much I enjoyed our conversations. The student told his mother that if it wasn’t for me, he might have dropped out.

I told his mother that she had raised a good kid and she got emotional, started crying. “In a way, what we do is a type of ministry. You cheer someone up when they have a bad day. Sometimes they cheer me up when I’m having a bad day.” Campus ministry is something the two brothers are familiar with. In fact, serving WCU students is in their blood. In 1964, their father came to Cullowhee as the first Presbyterian campus minister. “He did that for 14 years,” Max said. “He was out among the students. They had a little student center for him. He built that space that’s now a coffee shop on campus, Hillside Grind. That was the Cullowhee Presbyterian Church. In fact, the first thing my dad ever did in the building itself — they had a wedding — my dad married my current wife’s stepdad and mom in 1978.” Growing up in Cullowhee, the brothers have seen their share of change on campus. Lee said he never dreamt that WCU would have a transit system. “The school has quadrupled in size, it seems, but it was a small campus in the 60’s, maybe 3,500 students. I never imagined that Western would have something like the Cat-Tran back then,” he said. Their colleague Steve Bryson ’84, who graduated with a degree in manufacturing engineering technology, says he wishes he could have ridden the shuttle across campus as an undergraduate. “I remembered I’d get out of class in Stillwell and I had to run — I mean literally run — to my next class,” Bryson said. “We had 15 minutes if the professor let you leave at the bell. There were different buildings then and it took time to get across campus.”

Like the Bennett brothers, Bryson’s connection to campus runs deep. His family reaches back more than five generations in Cullowhee and a number of relatives are Catamounts. “My parents grew up here and went to high school here. I have an aunt and an uncle who graduated from Western in the 1930’s. It was a teacher’s college then and my uncle went on to become the principal of the old Scotts Creek School,” Bryson said. Bryson even went to elementary school on campus with the Bennett family. He started first grade in the McKee Building. “Eventually, we all went to Camp Laboratory School. Lee was a year older, but his brother Tim and I were in the same grade together. We all graduated together, pretty much,” Bryson said. Like Max, Bryson was in the Air Force. He said, for him, one of the best parts of driving the Cat-Tran is serving students affiliated with the military. “We have a lot of students that are ex-military, or someone who has been called to go to drill that weekend. We have a lot of Marine reserves, Army reserves, Air National Guard, all here going to school and going to drill on the weekends,” Bryson said. “I like to talk to and encourage them.” Whether it’s for the camaraderie, family ties or service to the students, all the drivers agree that driving the Cat-Tran is a stress-free, fun job. “I like getting a paycheck, but I’d do this for free,” Bryson said. “Driving around and waving at people, to offer a ride to those in need – it’s the best job I’ve ever had.”