I was in 6th grade when I first realized adults lied. I’m not talking white lies, but honest to goodness, flout the truth lies. Mrs R____ told a lie to our principal at McKinley School. He knew it, Gene and I knew it, and she knew it, but she still got her way.

It was 1966. I was one of several sixth graders selected to serve on McKinley School’s Safety Patrol. Our job was to act as crossing guards at two key intersections the kids used on their way to and from school. Back then, there were no adult crossing guards, just us sixth graders. Speaking with old friends now, we were all pretty proud and happy to have been selected. As my friend Joy recently said “We were like the Postal Service, doing our job in snow, sleet, rain and ice … Such different times”.

The two crossing points were on State Street on the West Side of school, and Route 23 to the East of the school. State Street was a city street and fairly busy, but the traffic was relatively slow. Route 23 was a state highway and the crossing point was only 1/2 mile inside Ottawa’s city limits, so traffic moved at a high rate of speed. At the Route 23 crossing point, there was one of those old stoplights where you pushed a button to turn on the red light for oncoming traffic. The last stopsign before that stoplight was seven miles away, in Grand Ridge.

Gene Grobe and I were the early morning crossing guards on Route 23. This was when kids were on the way to school at the start of the day. We received instruction on use of the stoplight, checking especially for semi truck traffic, and were told to never let kids cross the road until the traffic had actually stopped at the light. We were actually given a booklet with additional instructions in it.

The school year started, and Gene and I met at the crossing early each morning. We kept the little kids under control, pumped our arms to get a honk from the passing semis, and never ever let kids cross the road until traffic was completely stopped.

Occasionally at the start of the year, a parent might accompany their Kindergarten child as far as our crossing point. Once we stopped the traffic with the light, their kid crossed the road, while the parent returned home. There were no other major roads or crossing points between our stoplight and the school, so the parents were OK with their child walking the rest of the way with the other children.

Mrs R____ was one of those parents. At the crossing, while other parents would just say hello, or stay quiet, Mrs. R_____ always offered advice on when to push the button on the light, when to let the kids cross and so on. You know the type. A nice enough lady, but a bit overbearing. In today’s world, she would definitely be considered a “Helicopter Parent”. We felt sorry for her son.

After the first couple of weeks, only one parent still accompanied their child to school. Yep, you guessed it, Mrs. R_____. She was still bringing her son every morning, and still offering advice. It was, to be honest, a bit annoying.

Time passed, as did the seasons. It was darker in the mornings. Cars and trucks had headlights on and our stoplight was visible a long ways away. Eventually winter arrived, and with it the occasional snow. Gene and I, bundled up against the cold, were at the crossing every morning doing our job. And Mrs. R____? She still arrived faithfully every morning, and chattered away. In fact she talked more, and offered even more advice, if that was possible. Gene and I thought her a bit odd by then. You know how as a kid, you sometime had a sense something wasn’t quite right with an adult? That was how we thought about her.

Then one day, Gene and I were called to the principal’s office. Our principal, Mr. Powell was THE MAN. He was universally respected, but in general, you didn’t want to get called to his office. When we arrived, Mr. Powell looked a bit uncomfortable, something you never saw. He proceeded to explain Mrs. R_____ was going to start working the Route 23 crossing with us in the morning. One of us asked why. It turns out she claimed her son was nearly killed when a truck didn’t stop at the light. What?! We told Mr. Powell it never happened. We never let the kids cross until the traffic HAD stopped. He could check with any of the kids. It didn’t make sense. Her son never left her side until she told him to. How could he almost be hit, if she were controlling him so closely? He listened to us, and didn’t say anything at first. His eyes shifted back and forth a bit, and eventually, he said something like “Well, I understand, but we need to move on”. Gene and I returned to Mr. Ledbetter’s class wondering what the hell had just happened.

A few days later, an article appeared in the local paper. In the article, she claimed her son was almost struck by a semi, and would have been thrown a block if she hadn’t grabbed him. As a result, she would now work as a crossing guard, while her son went back and forth to school.

This was all a complete fabrication. Nothing even close to this happened. As an adult, I would call it a flat out lie. Even as a kid, I felt my personal honor was impugned. I remember talking to mom about it, and asking why Mrs. R____ would lie. She paused, and in a controlled voice replied “That’s the way some people are. They want to feel important, so they make up stories”, or words to that effect.

Mrs. R_____ worked the remainder of the year with Gene and I. We pushed the light button, and she always went onto the highway with a small stop sign on a paddle and held it up. My buddy Howard was on the 1150 shift with Jim Carroll. This was when kids returned home for lunch, including the Kindergarteners, who were released a bit later than the rest of the grade schoolers. She worked their shift as well. As Howard recently said, “ She was a psycho. She just started showing up, and we were demoted”. Kindergarteners only went to school for half a day, so those were the only two shifts affected.

Mrs. R_____ never spoke about the alleged incident with Gene and I, and we never brought it up. Actually, we didn’t speak to her much at all, although she continued to chatter away. As a child, what do you say to an adult, who you know has lied about you?

Addendum:

• I’ve thought quite a bit about Mr. Powell’s reaction to all of this. He was always a straight shooter. I’m guessing she threatened some sort of legal action, or that she was going to the newspaper. Plainly, she lied to get her way. As he spoke with us that day, I knew he didn’t believe her, but I couldn’t figure out why he was making the decision he did. Now, I also wonder if she wasn’t one of those parents who are at the school, always complaining about something. The other thing I’ve thought about since then is this: if she was at the light and saved him at the last second, how did she even allow the incident to happen? If she were at the light, she never would have let her son leave her side with a truck approaching and not stopping. As an eleven year old boy, it was particularly frustrating for me.

• Thanks to Joy Starjak Algate, Lynne Galley Robinson, Tim Stouffer and Howard Johnson for sharing memories with me about McKinley School and serving as a School Patrol Officer. We all chuckled at some of the memories. Only Howard and I had the “honor” of Mrs. R____ working with us at the stoplight on Route 23. Gene Grobe has since passed away.

• Special thanks to Joy Starjak Algate for the included photos of our schedule and the Safety Patrol Members Handbook. They backed up the memories provided by others.

• Another interesting memory surfaced among several of us as we talked. We all remember going home at lunchtime, and watching “Bozo’s Circus” on TV while at home. If you grew up in the Midwest, I think Bozo was almost required

• I haven’t named Mrs. R_____ here, as I don’t know if she, or any of her family are still alive and living in Ottawa, Illinois. The intent of the blog is not to disparage an individual, but to reflect on how the incident effected me at the time.

• McKinley was a great place to go to for elementary school. If you want to read other blogs about the school, you can find them here:

• • A May 2020 blog about Mr. Powell and our Memorial Day services at the school and in town: https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2020/05/20/mr-powell-and-flanders-fields/

• • A June 2020 blog about my First Grade Teacher, Mrs Thelma Finkeldey: https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2020/06/04/mrs-thelma-finkeldey/

• • A March 2020 blog about Mr. Ledbetter, Wally, and the incident with the stolen paddle: https://mnhallblog.wordpress.com/2020/03/10/wally-mr-ledbetter-and-the-stolen-paddle/