But recently, the wheels nearly came off the 80-year-old’s bus-driving career when the authorities refused to renew her passenger transport licence.
She said bus drivers had to pass a medical assessment each year, and she failed her most recent one because she had cataracts and her eyesight was "not up to scratch".
For most 80-year-olds, that would be the perfect excuse to shut the bus doors and call it a day.
But not Mrs Tisdall.
"I went to the doctor one Wednesday and I had cataract surgery on both eyes the next Tuesday."
And now she is back driving children to and from Strath Taieri School each day.
Mrs Tisdall said she and her late husband were long-time farmers in the Middlemarch area, but when farming suffered an economic downturn in the 1980s, she decided to get her passenger transport licence to supplement their income.
"Money was really, really hard to come by and we were broke.
"My children were getting a bit older, so I got my licence and started driving the local school bus run and I’ve been doing it ever since."
She said she was a third generation bus driver. Her mother drove before her, and before that, her grandfather drove.
Her daughter now has her passenger transport licence and Mrs Tisdall hoped she would one day take over the bus run.
"It gets me out of bed every morning.
"And I love the kids. I get on really well with them and I like to see them growing.
"Now I’m taking the kids of previous kids to school — there’s even a couple of grandkids."
Mrs Tisdall said she ran a pretty tight ship on the bus.
"There’s no yelling or screaming.
"The kids are really good. We’ve got rules. We’ve got a good thing going."
The pupils love her so much, they bought her flowers and sang Happy Birthday to her on their way to school yesterday.
As for how long she planned to continue to drive the bus, she said: "We’ll just have to wait and see if I get my medical next year.
"I’ll be driving for at least another year."
She celebrated her 80th birthday yesterday and planned to have a big party tonight with lots of friends and family.
Asked if she would use her bus to transport all the drinkers home afterwards, she said: "Nope. I’m off the clock. That’s their problem to sort out, not mine."
