Don’t cross until Steve says so

Posted by [email protected] | Dec 12, 2018 | Education | 0 |

Steve Bottcher. @7:15am, December 12th, 2018. [Photo: David Kramer]

“My crossing post in winter” [Photo: Steve Bottcher]

Yesterday was “Memory Day” at the Greenwich Lane and South Winton Road cross walk across from the Twelve Corners Middle School and the Brighton High School.

At seven in the morning with a glint in his eye while manning his post, crossing guard Steve Bottcher told student and faculty walkers that Tuesday marked the 55th anniversary of the first date at a college dance with his later-to-be-wife. I wondered if the dance included a first kiss. Yes, said Steve, but only after asking politely.

(See Steve’s “I’m Glad I’m There, Too!,” a short reflective essay on his experiences as a crossing guard.)

David Kramer @7:15am, December 12th, 2018. [Photo: Steve Bottcher]

Now in his fourth season, Steve is one of eleven crossing guards employed by the Town of Brighton police department to keep pedestrians and bicyclists safe as they come and go to schools throughout the Brighton Central School District.

Rain, snow, sleet or shine, you’ll see the guards in their yellow vests guiding people across the streets while cautioning drivers.

Ever amiable, offering a hearty greeting and words of encouragement, Steve knows the names of most of his clientele. Today he was pointing out the planet Venus that shone in the sky above the school.

“The students and I have been enjoying the presence of the ‘morning star’, the planet Venus. It can be seen as the tiny shiny spec over the high school. Naturally, we talked a little about all 8 planets, which were pretty well known to this group.” [Photo and caption: Steve Bottcher, 12/20/18]

“’When the little hand is on the … ‘ Brighton HS clock tower on a late Fall morning” [Photo and caption: Steve Bottcher]

After 5 years as an elementary school teacher and 40 years as a sales representative, Steve found his retirement calling. He even takes photographs from his post.

The longest tenured guard is Mary Lyons at 30 years. Mary has been stationed all over town and is currently at the Indian Landing Elementary School in Penfield. Mary’s husband Tom has been a guard for about 5 years. Ever alert, right after I took the photo, Tom helped to her feet a girl who slipped in the slick conditions.

Undeterred by darkness or cold, Bob Cohen watched traffic flows on the corner of Elmwood and Winton across from the Brighton Fire Department station. Bob’s service is only one year less than Mary’s, 29 years. Bob worked for the town before shifting in semi-retirement to his morning and afternoon crossing guard duties.

(left) Mike Cohen, 29 years as a crossing guard; (right) Tom Lyons, 5 years. His wife Mary has guarded for 30 years.

@7:15am, December 12th, 2018. (left) Bob Cohen, 29 years as a crossing guard; (right) Tom Lyons, 5 years. Tom’s wife Mary has guarded for 30 years. [Photo: David Kramer]

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Twelve Corners Memorial Park, Brighton, NY 4/5/18 [Photo: David Kramer] From Site says Brighton is best place to live in New York

About The Author

[email protected]

Welcome to Talker of the Town! My name is David Kramer. I have a Ph.D in English and teach at Keuka College. I am a former and still active Fellow at the Nazareth College Center for Public History and a Storyteller in Residence at the SmallMatters Institute. Over the years, I have taught at Monroe Community College, the Rochester Institute of Technology and St. John Fisher College. I have published numerous Guest Essays, Letters, Book Reviews and Opinion pieces in The New York Times, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, the Buffalo News, the Rochester Patriot, the Providence Journal, the Providence Business News, the Brown Alumni Magazine, the New London Day, the Boston Herald, the Messenger Post Newspapers, the Wedge, the Empty Closet, the CITY, Lake Affect Magazine and Brighton Connections. My poetry appears in The Criterion: An International Journal in English and Rundenalia and my academic writing in War, Literature and the Arts and Twentieth Century Literary Criticism. Starting in February 2013, I wrote for three Democratic and Chronicle blogs, "Make City Schools Better," "Unite Rochester," and the "Editorial Board." When my tenure at the D & C ended, I wanted to continue conversations first begun there. And start new ones. So we created this new space, Talker of the Town, where all are invited to join. I don’t like to say these posts are “mine.” Very few of them are the sole product of my sometimes overheated imagination. Instead, I call them partnerships and collaborations. Or as they say in education, “peer group work.” Talker of the Town might better be Talkers of the Town. The blog won’t thrive without your leads, text, pictures, ideas, facebook shares, tweets, comments and criticisms.