June/July 2009
Vol 25 No 5
COMPLIMENTARY! TAKE ONE! FREE! Red Bus Driver “Jammer Joe” Is An Icon Of Glacier National Park
Antique auto photo by Becky Hart
[Photo courtesy of Glacier Park, Inc.]
By Dianna Troyer After he settles himself behind the driver’s seat of his red bus to give a tour of Glacier National Park, Joe “Jammer Joe” Kendall, 79, adjusts his microphone and shares a secret with his passengers in a confidential tone. “These buses used to have manual transmissions and gears, so I used to be a gear jammer,” says Joe of the red vintage style 17-passenger touring coaches with tan canvas rollback roofs, “but now the transmissions are automatic, so I’ve become a shiftless jammer.” Whatever he calls himself, “Jammer Joe is an icon of the park,” says Alicia Thompson, Glacier Park Inc. sales and marketing manager. Since 1997, “Jammer Joe” with his humor and vitality has endeared himself to red bus passengers and other park employees and even has a pizza place, “Jammer Joe’s,” named after him at Lake McDonald on the park’s west side. Among the drivers, who all wear crisp white shirts and pressed khaki pants, “Jammer Joe” is easily recognizable with his handlebar mustache. Also, he is the only driver who occasionally slips into a grizzly bear costume to surprise passengers returning from a short hike. For the past six years, “Jammer Joe” has driven the Great Lodges of Glacier tour, a six-day journey to the park’s historic lodges. His high school sweetheart and wife of 55 years, Geri, is tour director. “We’re so happy we can be here together working in the summers,” says Joe. “I feel so fortunate to see the most beautiful area of the country every day and to show this delightful, wonderful land of Glacier to others.” Glacier Park encompasses 1.3 million acres and is known for its active glaciers, 700 miles of trails, dozens of alpine lakes, diverse and abundant wildlife and flowers, and mountains resembling Europe’s Alps. Joe’s personality makes his passengers want to know as much about him as the park. Every season, Jammer Joe says passengers ask him how he keeps going at his age. The retired farmer from Galva, Illinois, a town about 50 miles northwest of Peoria, says he never tires of answering. “I grin and tell them, ‘I just keep breathing,’” says Joe, whose birthday is February 22. Then Joe, who has completed several marathons, shares a favorite quote from Dr. George Sheehan, a runner and author. “Most people live no where near their limits. They settle for accelerated aging, and an early and precipitous fall. They give aging a bad name.” Joe attributes his vitality to exercise and having a positive attitude. “Every morning, I walk for about 45 minutes,” he says. “When I was 50, I started running, and after that I completed 14 marathons. The first half-mile is the hardest, then the endorphins start pumping through your system, and you feel so good. About three years ago, I started walking because I damaged a tendon in my knee while ice-skating. In winter, I use a treadmill.” (Cont’d on page 28)