After 33 years of driving the school bus at Northport Public School, Rick Deering, 72, is turning in the keys and is ready to retire. Other “work” projects could arise in the future, but for now, Deering wrapped up his last day on June 6, the district’s final day of instruction for the 2023-2024 academic year.
“I like to fish and I like the creek, and when you’re in the school bus, you can go by the creek and see if there’s any fish in there,” Deering said. “When you go by the pond you can stop there and look down and you can see some rainbow (trout), brook trout, and it’s just awesome. I made my last stop there today with the bus — I usually go every day.”
The son of cherry farmers Richard and Georgia Deering, Rick grew up in the village, with his three siblings and himself all attending and graduating from Northport school. Rick and his siblings were taught how to work on a cherry farm from when they were young, and it’s where he also learned how to drive a tractor and car as a kid. In addition to the farm work that never ended, he took up another job at Deering’s Market until he was 15-yearsold, the place where his father worked as a meat cutter for 24 years.
