STOP!
Crossing Guard Still Loves Job After 20 Years
It was supposed to be part time and temporary, a way to help out
an ailing husband.
R. Weaver never figured she’d hang around this long as a crossing
guard at Roguemore Elementary school in north Arlington.
Twenty years later she’s at the same school on the same corner.
Weaver, affectionately known as simply “Mrs. R,” is now crossing the
children of the children she helped scurry through intersections
years ago.
“It’s the kids,” says Mrs. R., a spunky woman 80 years young. “I
really, truly enjoy them. I have no grandchildren, so it’s nice to
interact with the kids every day.”
From the older students slightly embarrassed to be helped across the
street to younger kids lugging backpacks larger than they are, there
are smiles, waves, hellos and the occasional hug for the
grandmotherly Mrs. R. This comes from the accompanying parents, too.
And like a grandmother, she’s also stern. . .in a loving way.
“Hold it. . .right there,” she yells at a youngster one morning, his
right foot hanging midway between the curb and the street.
Mrs. R walks briskly out into the center of the intersection, her
red S-T-O-P sign high in the air, her whistle blowing furiously.
Can’t tell what she’s saying to the wide-eyed youngster, but you can
tell he’s getting a mini-lecture on safety. The student is one of
around 160 she’ll help cross the street this early fall morning.
Mrs. R grew up in Ohio and moved to Arlington with her husband in
1974. She took on the part-time job when her husband was out of work
with back surgery. A woman at her church suggested crossing guard
duty “for grocery money.”
She is one of 85 crossing guards employed by the city who serve
morning and afternoon shifts to keep kids safe.
“We just love her,” says Yolanda Gates, whose son and daughter are
at Roguemore. “There’s something nice about seeing her every
morning. When she’s not here, it’s really kind of weird.”
Not being there is weird for Mrs. R, too.
“I find myself missing the kids,” she says. “I really do.”
