A farmer from Fairton, Kenneth Sheppard bought charter operating authority from a family member, Bridgeton native Milton Sheppard, and purchased a retired Greyhound bus to start Sheppard Bus Service in 1952.

Ken's farm on Rockville Road became the depot, parking buses where grazing cows once pastured. Ken Sheppard won his first contract that same year supplying three (3) school buses to Fairfield Township Schools. In 1954 Sheppard Bus Service started contracting six (6) school buses for Seabrook Schools with the help of his best friend and Upper Deerfield resident, Jud Turner, using Jud’s farm as a staging area to service the District.

Maria Sheppard started as a bus driver for the Seabrook Schools in the mid 1960's before marrying Ken in 1968. She was the matriarch behind the scenes that made the budding upstart school bus company successful. Whether sewing seat covers with her Singer sewing machine, driving school routes, writing payroll checks, and most importantly keeping up with driver relations, a kind of HR department before its time. Maria Sheppard was a big part of Kenneth Sheppard's success. ...