The new bus terminal will be named after well-known bus driver and personality Hubert Winfield (Sparky) Lightbourne, his niece and biographer revealed this week.

When the new bus terminal is finally opened many bus passengers may be too young to remember Mr. Lightbourne.

His niece, Andrea Lightbourne, has reissued her book ?Light the Spark?, to remind people.

?Because the new transportation bus terminal will be named after him, I thought it would be appropriate to release it again,? said Dr. Lightbourne.

The late Mr. Lightbourne was a well-known personality in Bermuda and drove a bus for over 30 years. His sightseeing tours were legendary. He received an MBE from the Queen for his contributions to Bermuda tourism.

?I thought the book was really important since tourism is always under the microscope and needs a lot of interest,? said Dr. Lightbourne. ?It is a good way of inserting history back into our culture. Most people don?t know who Sparky was, especially the younger generation. ?There are books out there on Bermuda, but this is specifically about Sparky and his contributions.

?It makes a meaningful contribution to the history of Bermuda. Bermuda has changed so much, and I think it is good to know what it was like back then, for future generations and current generations.?

Since the original release of the book in June 2000, Dr. Lightbourne has been abroad studying for her doctoral dissertation in educational leadership.

?I have written another book,? she said. ?It was my doctoral dissertation called ?Shining Through the Clouds?. That was a case study about the black community in Tucson, Arizona. It wasn?t actually published. It is still in manuscript form.?

To put together the book, Dr. Lightbourne spent many hours interviewing her uncle.

?He wanted me to put this book together for him,? she said. ?It is a historical and anecdotal account of life in Bermuda as told through Sparky?s experiences.

?Part of the book talks about war-time Bermuda. He was involved in that at the Airport at Darrell?s Island. He was a boat pilot. He was also the first limousine driver for the Airport when it moved to Kindley, so he was involved in transportation his whole life and made a significant contribution to Bermuda.?

Dr. Lightbourne said she always felt like his favourite niece, even though he had too many nieces to count. Her father Willard (Pommy) Lightbourne was his brother.

?Lots of people get my father and Sparky mixed up,? she said. ?My father use to be a barber back in the day. I have a section in the book called the Barber of 42 Street. It talks about his early barbering days.?

Mr. Lightbourne also had nine children, several of which are featured in the book.

?None of them are bus drivers,? she said. ?He was in a class by himself.?

The book contains a compact disc of Mr. Lightbourne giving a tour, combined with pictures of local flora.

?He would give a commentary of the tours around Bermuda,? she said.

?He knew the name of every shrub. He was loaded with information. I found the plants he was describing and took pictures of them and I made the two coincide.?

Dr. Lightbourne said she did not really know how her uncle received the nickname ?Sparky?.

?I think a relative attributed an effervescent personality to Sparky,? she said.

?I didn?t dwell on that too much in the book. My father got his nickname the same kind of way. A lady came up to him one day and pinched his cheek and said ?you?re a cute little pommy?.?