Charles Poland was doing a job he loved, driving a bus full of children he loved along rural Alabama streets and highways.
And then, in a quick flurry of bullets, he was dead.
For that – for refusing the gunman’s demand to take two schoolchildren around 4 p.m. Tuesday, then to face the horrific consequence – Poland is being called a hero; by officials in the school system he worked for, by the people of Dale County, by his family.
You couldn’t give nothing greater than your life for a kid or anyone else,” his brother-in-law Melvin Skipper told CNN affiliate WDHN.
“That’s a hero.”
His life began on July 16, 1946, in Payette, Idaho – a town along the Oregon border some 2,300 miles northwest of where his life ended, in southeastern Alabama.
For 43 of his 66 years, he was married to Mary Janice Poland. During his lifetime, “Chuck” – as he was known – also became a father of two and “paw-paw” of two grandsons.
And he had other children as well. After some time as a substitute bus driver, Poland began full-time duty shuttling students around Dale County four years ago.
It was a job he enjoyed, his brother-in-law said, because of the children he drove.
Recalling his many talks with his wife about “my youngins,” Skipper said, “there was a laughter and a love that he had for the kids.” “They were his youngins’, when he had them on the bus.”
Like many others, his wife told the Dothan Eagle, the local newspaper, that her husband would stop at nothing to help his young passengers.
She said, “He loved them.” “He was loved, and he loved everyone.”
Poland was remembered by his family, neighbors, and fellow residents of the little hamlet of Newton as a kind, modest, and devout guy. Speaking with the Eagle, his neighbor Hilburn Benton said that he was selfless in helping those in need and would give anything in return.
However, a lot of people got to know him after he was contacted by a man on Tuesday in Midland City who, according to neighbors and media sources, is 65-year-old retired truck driver and Vietnam veteran Jimmy Lee Dykes. The man has not yet been named by the authorities.
After Poland rejected the suspect’s advances for two children, shots were fired. Dykes then picked up a 5-year-old boy and brought him to the makeshift bunker he had built next to his house. That’s where the toddler and his abductor stayed late on Thursday night. Dale County Sheriff Wally Olson said there was no evidence the boy was hurt, but there was also no suggestion a breakthrough was about to happen.
Poland’s funeral will take place in the Ozark Civic Center on Sunday afternoon, after a visitation service on Saturday night.
The Dale County schools declared, “We are mourning a hero… who gave his life to protect 21 students who are now safely home with their families.”
Poland’s obituary mirrored the same theme. His life “exemplified the Lord he served, (who) made the ultimate sacrifice by saving the lives of the children he loved,” the note said of him.
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