Mary Lima has helped Tres Pinos students arrive safely for 33
years
Mary Lima begins each weekday with a smile and a wave
– to about 100 or so people.
Lima, 74, has been the crossing guard at Tres Pinos School ever
since the school first opened in its present location on Airline
Hwy. in 1974. For the last 33 years, she has sat in her car
– today, it is a silver Mercedes sedan that is parked just
across the street – and helped children safely cross the busy state
highway on their way to and from school while watching for
careless, speeding drivers.
Mary Lima has helped Tres Pinos students arrive safely for 33 years
Mary Lima begins each weekday with a smile and a wave – to about 100 or so people.
Lima, 74, has been the crossing guard at Tres Pinos School ever since the school first opened in its present location on Airline Hwy. in 1974. For the last 33 years, she has sat in her car – today, it is a silver Mercedes sedan that is parked just across the street – and helped children safely cross the busy state highway on their way to and from school while watching for careless, speeding drivers.
But while her presence is a reassuring one for parents and staff members alike, Lima says she is the one who has benefited from her relationships with her Tres Pinos family.
“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, who lives directly across from Tres Pinos School, remembers watching back in the early 1970s when construction first began at the school. At first, the Limas were excited, thinking their son and daughter would be attending Tres Pinos. But as the school neared completion, Lima says she was surprised to find out that because of the way district boundaries fell, her children would be sent to Southside School, a few miles away on the other side of the hill, rather than the new school right across from their home.
“I couldn’t believe it,” she said, shaking her head at the memory. “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.”
In spite of the district’s refusal to allow her children to attend Tres Pinos School, there was no bitterness on Lima’s part; in fact, when she was approached about joining the staff as the crossing guard, Lima accepted the position.
“I worked in the cannery [San Benito Foods] for 15 years [after moving to Hollister from Portugal], and I was helping to take care of my aunt and uncle,” Lima said. “But my aunt died, and my uncle couldn’t take care of himself. So I was staying home every day taking care of him. I got a call from Judy Rider, who was on the school board back then, and she asked me to be the crossing guard. She said it would be perfect for me. She was right.”
Being a crossing guard has been a pretty good gig, Lima said. Each school day she drives her car to the end of her driveway and waits to help the few students who are walking or riding bikes cross 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.
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. “I wish I could write down license plate numbers sometimes, but the cars go by way too fast. But I’ve been lucky. With God helping me, we’ve never had an accident.”
Lou Medeiros, Tres Pinos School principal, said having Lima outside on a regular basis not only acts as a deterrent to speeders, but also lets parents know someone is watching out for their children.
“I think having someone out there is reassuring,” he said. “The kids listen to her. If Mary says don’t cross, then they don’t cross. The parents really appreciate her presence and having someone there is critical. Now that Granite Rock has moved their driveway down the road a bit, there are trucks passing by all of the time and often they don’t slow down.”
Lima’s work day begins at 7:45 a.m., when she parks across from the school and watches traffic for about 30 minutes. In the afternoon, she parks just before 3 p.m. and stays until around 3:30 p.m., waving good-bye to the passing cars. Should she need a day off, Lima says she calls Medeiros ahead of time and “since he is a nice man, he just tells me OK, he’ll take care of it.”
“She is such a dedicated person; she is there all of the time,” Medeiros said. “She always lets me know if she’s not going to be there and she never messes up. She cares about what she does. If all employees were like Mary, bosses would not have any problems.”
Lima said she has seen many changes occur at the school in 33 years – the school has grown, adding two portable buildings and a covered patio for students to eat lunch, and this year, new bathrooms are currently under construction. She says she has also watched many students grow up and start families of their own.
“One boy I crossed years ago, now he has 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.”
Although Lima’s children were not allowed to attend Tres Pinos, her grandchildren, Adam and Amanda Lima, are Tres Pinos alumni, and were helped across the street each afternoon by their grandmother, who watched them for their parents after school.
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.”
