A lot of small towns in Iowa have community members that wear multiple heroic hats and do it well. They love their communities and the people in them enough to put their lives on the line and multiply it. When one of these people actually ends up succumbing to such a sacrifice, it is devastating.

It's quite common for school bus drivers to be volunteers or take it on as a second job. An Iowa man who did that gig as well being a fire chief will never be forgotten in the Iowa towns of Woodward and Bouton.

KETV says Ken Cavanaugh died of a heart attack while transporting a bus full of kids in the Woodward-Granger school district to school, but before he died, he saved each of their lives with the simple act of pulling over. He did so, knowing something was terribly wrong with him. Now, literally everyone from the school kids and their parents to his fire department colleagues to everyday residents there,  is grieving.

Karl Harris is the Bouton fire captain and said this type of act of heroism was just kind of Cavanaugh's thing. "I'm sure the first thing he was thinking about is how am I going to keep these kids from getting injured or suffering from a catastrophic school bus crash".

The Perry News says various services were held over the weekend at the Bouton Community Fire Station as well as Woodward-Granger High School and Woodward cemetery. Cavanaugh has been laid to rest but his community will surely honor his heroism for years to come.

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