Neil Lawrence O’Mara born 9/9/1944 – 15/5/22 was one of the O’Mara Brothers Bus Lines owners and drivers, and incredibly well-known to the Yass Community for many years.
O’Mara’s Buses operated from the Depot on Rossi Street, which is still there to this day.
Neil was the school bus driver on the Jerrawa bus when he first started up until his retirement about 10 years ago when he drove the Bookham bus.
He also chartered runs for events such as Picnic Races or school excursions.
Neil loved being a school bus driver – he happily chatted to all the kids on the bus and made sure that they all behaved.
Very much a creature of habit, Neil would get up early to start his bus run, collect all the primary and secondary students from their bus stop and deliver them to start school each morning.
Then he would go back to the depot to clean, service and maintain the O’Mara’s buses.
Neil’s wife Robyn would bring him a hot lunch every weekday. He would sit at a table and eat his lunch at the same time every day, then pick up all the school students from every Yass school to return them home in the afternoons.
After work he would go to the Yass Soldiers Club until Robyn would pick him up to go home for dinner, and this defined his routine all his working life.
He was dedicated to his job as a school bus driver, his family – wife Robyn and children Jason and Reshenda, and the extended O’Mara family.
Neil was also very active in the Yass community and will be sadly missed by all who came into contact with him over the many years he was a vital part of the local Yass community.