Chowchilla Memorial

Plaque Honors Bus Driver in 1976 Kidnapping

This four-foot-high monument honors Ed Ray, the driver of the school bus that was hijacked with twenty-six children in Chowchilla, Madera County on July 15, 1976. The memorial can be found across the street from Chowchilla City Hall.

As monuments to heroes go, this one is not overwhelming. It stands approximately three feet tall. It is located in a small, grassy area near the entrance to the fleet lot for the local school district. One can easily miss it on the first drive or walk by.

It’s a statue honoring Ed Ray (Frank Edward Ray), the driver of the Chowchilla school bus that was taken along with twenty-six children from that community on July 15, 1976.

Kidnappers believed to be inspired by a similar crime referenced in a Clint Eastwood movie, took the bus and buried it in a quarry lot in Livermore, Alameda County as they prepared to make ransom demands.

Ed and one of the older youth inside the bus, Michael Marshall, managed to dig out an air pathway to escape and then rescue the others.

All survived.

The kidnappers were convicted and did a lot of time in prison.

Family members joined with area government leaders to dedicate the renaming of a park in Ed Ray’s honor on January 27, 2015—photo from video on the City of Chowchilla website CityofChowchilla.org.  

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, one might find a retelling of the 1976 events on television or in the papers.

There’s little doubt that the event will once again be thrust into the national spotlight in July of 2026 when the fiftieth anniversary of the kidnapping will be marked.

One year after the kidnapping, Robert Goulet put out a disco song called Ballad of Chowchilla Ray that had, as the folks in the music business like to say, A limited run”.

“But old Ed Ray kept his cool that day.                                                                                                        
And he did everything they would say.                                                                                                          
Just one move and they would shoot away,                                                                                                
And one dead child was too much to pay.”
(Ballad of Chowchilla Ray, written by C. Nichols, R. Righetti, and K. Morill)

The names of every child aboard that Chowchilla school bus when the kidnapping occurred in 1976 are etched onto the plaque honoring Ed Ray. Photo: Steve Newvine

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 will forever recall thirty ugly hours for the school children and their driver. It will celebrate their safe return and acknowledge the fears they faced during 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 twenty-six 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 are still remembered in Chowchilla.

Steve Newvine lives in Merced.

His latest book, Jack & Johnny: Benny, Carson and a Friendship Made for Television, and all his releases are available locally at the Merced Courthouse Museum gift shop, or it can be ordered at Jack & Johnny (lulu.com)

His California books are also available for purchase at Bookish Modesto, located in the Roseburg Square Shopping Center, 811 W. Roseburg Avenue, Modesto.