William A. “Bill” Bauer, Sr. age 85, of Wellsboro, PA, died on Tuesday, December 3, 2019.  He was born on July 6, 1934 in New Rochelle, NY a son of the late Otto C. and Gerta E. (Moldt) Bauer and was married to the late Renee C. (Seabury) Bauer who died in 2012.  Bill was a member of the New Rochelle Fire Dept., retiring as a Lt. after 20 years of service.  After retiring, he was employed as a school bus driver in New Rochelle, NY and Gouldsboro, PA. He expressed much pleasure in being able to manage and calm the children, while many other drivers could not handle handicapped children and avoided these bus runs.  He continued to receive Christmas cards from the children, now in their 30’s and had reconnected with several on Facebook.  Bill always loved the small town spirit of Wellsboro and he likened it to the movie, “It’s a Wonderful Life" type of community.  Of the three major areas that he lived in, Wellsboro was, by far, the top pick.  Bill was very involved with the prison ministry for the past 7-8 years with NA & AA members in recovery.  He was a member of the Wellsboro Bible Church, Wellsboro Men’s Chorus and Hamilton Gibson Productions.  Bill is survived by a son: William A. (Ligimax) Bauer, Jr. of Conroe, TX, daughters: Renee Bauer of New Haven, CT, Dawn Gofstein of Wellsboro, PA, 6 grandchildren: Bill Bauer, III, Mary Beth (Sean) Sykes, Anthony Bauer, Jacob Gofstein, Matthew (Arielle) Gofstein, Taylor (Otto Schilkoski) Gofstein, 3 great grandchildren: Sophia Bauer, Orion Sykes and Milo Sykes.  A memorial service will be held at a later date.  Arrangements are entrusted to the Carleton Funeral Home, Inc. www.carletonfh.com Wellsboro, PA.