Our Central Valley
By STEVE NEWVINE
A 50th anniversary was marked last week in Chowchilla. It was not a festive occasion but rather more of a somber reminder of what the community saw as one of the worst times in its history.
On July 15, 1976, three men believed to be inspired by a similar crime referenced in a Clint Eastwood movie, seized a filled school bus kidnapping 26 children along with the bus driver. The bus with the victims inside was buried it in a quarry lot in Livermore, Alameda County.
The kidnappers prepared to make ransom demands. Law enforcement throughout the state mobilized. It was a living nightmare for the victims and their families.
But thanks to driver Frank Edward Ray (known to his friends as Ed), with the help of an older youth, Michael Marshall, everyone managed to escape to safety.
All survived. The kidnappers were convicted and did a lot of time in prison.
But the scars from that incident remained among many of the children who endured it well into adulthood. Some still live in Chowchilla.
The school district put up the monument honoring Ed Ray and the children on that bus in the years following the kidnapping. A park was renamed in his honor. He was forever seen as the hero who saved the children. He died in 2012.
Every year around the anniversary of the kidnapping, the story is retold on television or in the papers.
The names of every child aboard that Chowchilla school bus when the kidnapping occurred in 1976 are etched onto the plaque honoring Ed Ray. The plaque on the transportation property reads in part: With heartfelt thanks, the people of Chowchilla commemorate the safe return of 26 school children and their bus driver.
The monument recalls 30 ugly hours for the school children and their driver. It celebrates their safe return and recognizes their fears from that experience.
But on a day-to-day basis, the reminders can be seen by residents and others who may drive by the memorial near Chowchilla City Hall. Ed Ray died a hero, and the 26 children who were ultimately found alive and safe after their ordeal have made it through the experience.
It was a harrowing few days five decades ago that is still remembered in Chowchilla.
Steve Newvine’s California books are available at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop and on-line at Lulu.com/spotlight/stevenewvine .