With more than 40 years of experience between them, Takoma Park crossing guards Virina “Miss Liz” James and Pam “Miss Pam” Sprouse know what it takes to keep the city’s children safe while walking to school.
“The most important part of the job is the children; they’re so precious to us. I call them my babies,” says Miss Liz, who also goes by “Grandma Liz.” “My main thing is that I know the safety rules so I can teach them to the children and their parents.”
“As a crossing guard and person, I feel like the children look up to me and see me as a trusted person,” says Miss Pam. “Kids are important, but being out on the street on a busy corner I also have to maintain some politeness with the drivers as well. I need to give them respect, so that they respect me.”
Miss Liz joined the Takoma Park crossing guards after working in the Clinton administration through the 1990s. She says she applied for the job after being asked by a city official, but had also applied for a job with Metro at the same time.
“My thought was that I was going to accept the first job that was offered to me,” she says. “And, as fate would have it, the crossing guard job accepted me first and Metro gave me an offer two hours later.”
Miss Liz has now been with the city for 25 years.
For Miss Pam, becoming a crossing guard also seemed like it was destined to happen. “I always looked up to the crossing guards growing up in Hyattsville,” she says.
Miss Pam was a stay-at-home mother until her husband had a health scare, and she decided to work with him as a paint technician. After about eight years working together, her husband saw an opening as a crossing guard in Takoma Park and she decided to apply for the job. She’s been protecting Takoma Park’s streets now for almost 16 years.
“They call me the neighborhood grandma,” says Miss Pam, who has a few grandchildren of her own in addition to the countless children who cross her streets near Piney Branch Elementary every school day. “They call out ‘Hey, Miss Pam’ and give hugs and tell me about losing their baby teeth.”
After all those years watching children grow, Miss Liz and Miss Pam have become a big part in the lives of the children who cross their streets.
“Some kids were crossing in kindergarten and now they’re out of college and still come to visit,” says Miss Liz. “They say, ‘Miss Liz, you haven’t changed,’ and I say, ‘I stay the same just for you.’”
Miss Liz says she had one young lady come to her recently asking her if she remembered telling the girl that if she graduated college, she would give her a gift.
“And she says, ‘Well I just graduated from Montgomery College and I’m going to send you some photos from graduation to enjoy and cherish,’” she says. “So I made sure to give her a little graduation cash and she gave me the biggest hug.”
For Miss Pam, the children in her life help keep her protected just as much as she does for them.
“One day, I was having a rough time and was really down, and there was a little boy— I’d call him honey and he called me sweetie— and one day he walked by and turned around and ran back and hugged me, and it was exactly what I needed,” she says. “All those hugs are priceless.”
The children also find ways to show their appreciation for Miss Liz, who has been guarding the corner of Maple and Sherman Avenues.
“I had a birthday and all these kids came by and hugged me and that’s when the waterworks came on,” she says. “Next thing I know, two other children had instruments and started playing. I told them I would always have a place in my heart for them, and it still touches me to this day.”
Of course, for them the job is always about safety, whether it’s teaching children the rules of pedestrian safety or working to keep drivers from driving dangerously.
Miss Pam said she had one little boy who would be running from his mother and generally not obeying the rules of street safety.
“The next day, the boy came back with his father to talk with me about being safe,” she says. “I told him, ‘This corner is my office, these sidewalks are my hallways, and you don’t run in the hallways at school, right?’ I had to put it in his terms and on his level so he understood.”
But it isn’t all about teaching children, drivers must also remember to be vigilant, especially in school zones.
“Please, please obey the signs and our crossing guards and when you see a school bus with the red lights flashing do not pass it,” says Miss Pam. “You never know when a little tiny child may dart off away from us. We’re there to help, and not to upset drivers.”
Miss Pam says making sure they have the respect of drivers is incredibly important in keeping the streets safe for pedestrians. She recalled a time when a Metro bus driver had moved into an intersection where people needed to cross, and she made them reverse out of it.
“The next day, he pulled up before the crosswalk and gave me the thumbs up,” she says. “You know you’ve earned their respect if they back out of an intersection and give you a thumbs up.”
“This is why they put cameras on the school buses,” says James. “People need to learn to obey the law and obey us. We are the grandmothers of our corners.”
If you’d like to say “Hi” to one of Takoma Park’s crossing guards, Along with Miss Liz and Miss Pam, they are Donna Warren at Philadelphia and Cedar, Emma Reyes at Philadelphia and Holly, Edward Welch at Takoma Junction at Ethan Allen; Carrol Jordan Bondo at Philadelphia and Maple; Harriet Saxton at Maple and Grant.
This article appeared in the June Edition of the Takoma Park Newsletter. Check out this article and more on the City webpage.
