Jeff Mershon
Interviewed by Michelle Carter Smith
Who can say they still live in the same home that their parents brought them home to from the hospital? Jeff Mershon can! There is even a road in Corbett named after his family. The family's hardware store is long gone, but Jeff has kept well connected to his beloved community by being the current senior (longest years as a driver) bus driver for the Corbett School District.
Born at the old Portland Adventist Hospital, Jeff came home to three sisters and hard-working parents. They farmed and his dad was a traveling salesman for many years. When Jeff was young, his dad developed a medical condition that greatly impacted his health and the lifestyle of the entire family. It was too painful for his dad to travel any longer, so the family purchased the Corbett hardware store from the Wand family. As a boy, Jeff had wanderlust and would often go many miles on his bicycle. More than once his parents had to send out a formal search party for him! Jeff was academic, but when he was in high school, "the wheels fell off the bus" as the community was in an uproar over the possibility of the Corbett School District merging with the Reynolds School District. Many of the staff in Corbett had quit, and the replacement staff were seemingly not excited to be the replacements. Jeff grew frustrated and left after his junior year. He passed the college entry exam at age 17 and began working on his associate's degree at Mt Hood Community College. When he was 18 years old and eligible, he earned his GED.
Jeff describes himself as a "gearhead" and has always been passionate about further educating himself on mechanics, mostly diesel. After earning his associate's degree, he went to work for a company called Ger-Brock. Jeff was a mechanic and a transporter of vehicles for the company. He says this is by far the most fun job he has ever had! He worked there for four years and then later worked for various car dealerships as a mechanic.
At age 26, Jeff met and married Marcia, the mother of his son and daughter. Sam is currently living in Beaverton and Danielle lives in Texas. Between the two, Jeff is blessed with 5 grandchildren. Marcia and Jeff divorced after 10 years of marriage, and Jeff went to work for ZAP Motors, a BMW motorcycle shop. Here he repaired and raced BMWs. Jeff did endurance road racing, which is racing on a team for between 4 and 24 hours! Jeff later went to work for Mt Hood Meadows as a mechanic, working on snow cats, buses, snowmobiles, etc. It was here he met his current wife, Cynthia who goes by the name Rock. Working as a ski instructor, Rock and Jeff met and became great friends. Several years later, the two married and have been together for nearly 30 years! Rock had a daughter when she met Jeff and she is now married with three children, living in VA. After leaving his job at Meadows, Jeff went to work for Sester Farms in Gresham as a mechanic of heavy farm equipment. After just a year and a half, Jeff became seriously injured on the job and as a result, was not able to work for three years after that. It was during this time that Rock went to school and graduated with a BSN and became a critical care nurse. Eventually, Jeff decided to go to Reynolds School District and apply as a bus driver. He had been a fill-in driver at age 19 and thought it would be a good opportunity to go back to. He ended up working two years as a full-time driver for the special needs kids in the district. For several reasons, he enjoyed both the kids and the job. After two years, his back pain once again became too much and he had to quit. After taking two years off, Jeff was approached by Alan Greathouse to become a driver for Corbett. That was 15 years ago, and Jeff said he could not be happier with what he gets to do! He has covered every route at some point but has driven the same route for the last seven years. He enjoys driving to the school's sporting events as well, and basketball is by far his favorite sport to watch. Jeff says that respecting the kids is key as he develops relationships with them and their families. When you see Jeff, you will also see either Flora or Furgus, his beloved Carin Terrier dogs who are his support animals. When Jeff was struggling with severe panic attacks several years back, it was suggested he get a support animal. Once he got Nickie, a Rhodesian Ridgeback dog, he dropped 80 pounds of extra weight, came off all his medications, and was no longer pre-diabetic or had high blood pressure.
Jeff is currently enjoying life with Rock in his childhood home, getting to further connect with a community that he has always loved. On days off, Jeff and Rock take their dogs and drive all over the PNW to explore.