RSS Feed
|
|||||||||||||||||
|
Veteran School Crossing Guard Retires After 22 Years
For more than 22 years, Dorothy Helmes worked outdoors in all kinds of weather. In fact the unofficial postal worker's creed - neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night stays these couriers from the swift completion of their appointed rounds - is also apropos for her vocation, despite the fact she never delivered any mail. Helmes did, however, deliver thousands of children safely to school from 1985 until she retired last Friday as a school crossing guard at intersections near several Canarsie schools. Before her last day, Captain Ralph Monteforte, the commanding officer of the 69th Precinct, invited the veteran safety officer to his office last week to wish her well and offer his grateful appreciation for performing her grueling task over two decades. Police Officer Kethly Jean, the precinct's school crossing guard coordinator, also thanked her for her many years of service. Helmes is retiring to Maryland with her husband Richard this month after living in Canarsie for 47 years. When asked what she liked most about her job, Helmes promptly replied, "Watching my children grow up." The mother of an adult daughter, Helmes was, of course, referring to the many children she cautiously walked across the street on their first day of school and continued the task as they got older and moved on to higher grades. "The worst part of the job was January through March," Helmes admitted, "because, regardless of the temperature, it was my responsibility to be at my post to make sure every child was safely escorted across the street. When it got very cold, I usually put on at least five layers of clothing - and two pairs of socks." For the last ten years Helmes worked at the crossings near St. Jude's School, but before that she was assigned intersections at P.S. 272, P.S. 276 and Our Lady of Miracles School. Neil S. Friedman
|
for larger version       |
||||||||||||||||
)
