‘Touched our hearts.’ Pasco district names transportation center after slain bus driver
Almost a year after a Tri-Cities school bus driver was killed on the job, his district is memorializing the legacy he left behind.
Pasco School District’s new transportation building will now be named after Richard “Dick” Lenhart, the bus driver who was fatally stabbed last fall.
The school board unanimously passed a motion this week formalizing the building’s new name: the Richard Lenhart Transportation Building.
“To say thank you seems so little for everything we have received from everyone,” said his widow Nancy Lenhart. “This has really touched our hearts and honored us, and I know my husband would be totally humbled with this honor they have bestowed on him by naming this facility in his name.”
Lenhart, 72, was a bus driver of six years with the school district and drove Route 4. The community came together and rallied around the family and district employees who worked alongside Lenhart after his killing.
Nancy Lenhart also told the board the incident has turned her into an advocate for bus driver safety, noting that she hopes to spread her husband’s story at conventions and to lawmakers.
She said she’s been happy with the changes to safety measures and procedures Pasco put into place since the incident.
“It’s sad that a tragedy had to happen for this to take place, but I have to look at it that God put Dick where he was supposed to be that day,” she said.
Lenhart was killed on Sept. 24, 2021.
He was picking up a load of students after school when Joshua Dian Davis, 34, ran toward his parked bus. Police believe Davis drove his truck to a neighborhood near Longfellow Elementary around 3 p.m. that day.
As Lenhart was preparing to leave, Davis approached the bus door. Anticipating a question from Davis, the bus driver opened the door.
Davis reportedly stepped on to the bus and asked Lenhart if it went to Road 100. When Lenhart said it didn’t, Davis allegedly stabbed him with a knife in front of about three dozen students.
A community request to rename the facility originally came before the school board in December, and a committee was formed in January to receive input on the name change.
“This was a tragedy all the way around for our district, especially for you, but we certainly appreciate your grace and dignity in working through this,” board Vice President Steve Christensen told Lenhart’s family.
This story was originally published April 30, 2022 at 5:00 AM.
