By Rich Larson, KYMN General Manager & Co-Host of the Morning Show | Rich@kymnradio.net
Next week will mark the 22nd anniversary of the plane crash that took the lives of Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife Shiel, and their daughter Marcia, along with the pilots and several other passengers. Now a symbol of Wellstone’s legacy has returned to Northfield, and the late Senator’s son David is hoping it can be used to further the work for which his father was known.
When campaigning, Wellstone would famously travel the state in a 1968 green and white Chevrolet school bus that had been converted into a rolling campaign headquarters. After he passed away, David said the bus was initially taken in by the Hibbing Bus Museum, and then put in storage on a farm belonging to one of David’s high school friends in between Kenyon and Wanamingo. While on the farm it was moved from a protected lean-to into a grove of trees where it sat for many years.
David said the restoration of the bus was always in the back of his mind, but a recent Star Tribune article about the bus, and the outpouring of response to that article, motivated him to take action. After contacting more friends, Wellstone was put in contact with John Benjamin of Benjamin Bus. He and his crew worked with Wellstone to retrieve the bus, bring it into the Benjamin Bus shop, and get the bus running again. David said Benjamin donated all of the labor to bring the engine and the mechanical structure of the bus back to life, and he has a lot of good feelings and gratitude about that.
“Let’s give John credit. He offered to bring it there. He offered to get it done. His mechanics have been cranking on it. It’s running. And I think it’s going to actually have a home there. If there’s any room at all, it’s going to sit there. And I’m finding some really new friends. That’s the best thing about this project. I have a bundle of new friends.”
With the bus back in working order, it will next go to a body shop outside of St.Cloud where the restoration will be completed. David will learn how to drive it, he said, and then use it in events and for organizations that bring people together and have positive goals in mind. He also hopes it will rekindle the memory of his father – and the work Senator Wellstone – did to inspire a new generation.
“I want it to be a symbol of hope. And I’m hoping young folks who don’t really know about Paul Wellstone’s legacy might get excited about getting involved in public service, which is why my dad did politics.”
He said he hopes Northfield will see much more of the green bus, speculating that a long-term visit to the new transit hub and regular appearances in the Defeat of Jesse James Days Parade could be in the bus’s future.
