Lisa Mangen

By Lorelai DeCerbo
How did you come to Norfolk?
That’s a long story! My mother grew up in Norfolk and I used to spend my summers up here. But what actually brought us to the area full-time is that my dad opened a bakery in 1985 in Canaan—Christiansen’s Bakery. My parents had a bakery in New York City for 25 years but moved the business up here. I met my husband and we stayed and raised our family. Thirteen years ago we bought a house in Norfolk.

What do you do here?
I drive a school bus!

What’s the best part of your job?
I love my split schedule. It lets me come home in the middle of the day. I am able to drive my bus home and get things done there before going back to finish my workday. And, I’ve gotten to meet a lot of people over the last 25 years. I get to know parents and all the kids. It’s funny because they see you somewhere else and stare at you because they are not quite sure who you are when you’re not driving the bus.

What do you like best about living and/or working in Norfolk?
I live in Norfolk and love working so close to home—it’s not even two miles round-trip from my house to where we park the buses. I used to live in Canaan and drove buses there for a few years before AllStar took over the routes from Whalen’s Bus Company. The best part about switching to the Norfolk route is that I have the same schedule as my granddaughter. She has been on the bus with me since she was five months old. My job offers a lot of conveniences.

What do you like least?
I grew up in the city. The hardest part about living here is that nothing is close.You have to travel to get wherever you want to go. It took me many years to get used to that. The hardest part about my job is probably that I have to get up really early. I get up every morning at 4 a.m.

Favorite season?
Fall. I love the colors, the weather … all of it!

Favorite place in Norfolk? Why?
I think my favorite place is Tobey Pond. We spent all of our summers here when I was a little girl and we would just spend the whole day at Tobey. When we got older, we would ride our bikes to the beach and my mom would come and bring us lunch. We spent a lot of time there.

Anything else you’d like to add?
Norfolk is a nice town. I wish there were more families that would come here and live here permanently to build community. There are a lot of weekenders, and it can be hard to get to know them because they are not here all the time.