Lima, 74, is the school’s crossing guard, a job she has held for 33 years, since the school opened in its present location on Airline Hwy. Every morning and afternoon, rain or shine, Lima sits in her car, watching for careless drivers and getting out to help students cross the busy state highway.
“I love doing this job,” Lima said. “I don’t do it for the money or anything. It’s just fun. I have just enjoyed it all.”
Lima says she remembers watching as Tres Pinos was built, and was later surprised when she learned that her son and daughter would not be allowed to attend the school. Even though the family lived right across the street from the new school, the Lima home was actually in the Southside School District.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said. “I went to all the meetings and talked to a lot of people and I couldn’t get them in. We sent them to Sacred Heart [Parish School] instead of sending them to Southside.”
Even though her children were not allowed to enroll at Tres Pinos, Lima held no hard feelings; when she was approached about joining the staff as the crossing guard, Lima accepted the job. “I got a call from Judy Rider, who was on the school board back then, and she asked me to be the crossing guard,” Lima said. “She said it would be perfect for me. She was right.”
Each school day Lima drives her car to the end of her driveway and waits to help the few students who are walking or riding bikes across Airline Hwy. Some years she is busier than others – this year, she helps maybe three or four students regularly, and some days go by without her leaving the warm confines of her car.
But even when she is not helping students cross the street, Lima watches traffic closely, keeping an eye out for reckless drivers or speeding semi-trucks coming and going from nearby Granite Rock.
“The traffic is terrible. Trucks race by and no one seems to pay attention. So many drivers don’t even notice there is a sign that tells you to go 25 mph because a school is nearby,” she said. “A few years ago, a California Highway Patrol car would cruise past the school in the mornings and afternoons and that helped, but they don’t come out anymore.”
Principal Lou Medeiros said having Lima outside not only acts as a deterrent to speeders, but also lets parents know someone is watching out for their children.
“I think having her out there is reassuring,” he said. “The kids listen to her. If Mary says don’t cross, then they don’t cross.”
Lima said she has watched many students grow up and start families of their own.
“One boy I crossed years ago, now he is married and has kids and I cross his kids,” she laughed. “I love talking to the kids. They ask me how I am, and I ask them how school was that day. Sometimes they’ll tell me they have too much homework and I tell them, ‘well, it’s part of the job.’ It’s been beautiful. It really has been good.”
And while life has slowed down somewhat in the past few years, Lima said she is not quite ready to hand over her crossing guard duties to someone else.
“Every year for the last three years I have thought ‘maybe this will be my last year,’ and then summer comes and I get the letter from the district hiring me back and so I go back,” she smiled. “Everything is good. I enjoy every day. If I didn’t like it, I’d quit and go home. But I’m still here.”
