'They Were All My Kids': D142 Crossing Guard Retires After 36 Years

OAK FOREST, IL — For 36 years, Nancy Hullinger rarely missed a day at her specific corner. She couldn't let the students down.

The longtime Oak Forest resident and mother of three showed up—rain and shine, sleet and snow—at the intersection of 149th and Laramie, ready to shuffle students safely across the street. Bookbags slung over backs, class projects in hand—for nearly four decades, she made sure they got where they needed to go.

"I loved it," Hullinger said. "I love the families, I love the kids. It got me up in the morning, got me going. I very rarely ever took off, I was always there."

Hullinger first started as crossing guard when her son was a kindergartener, and her parental instincts worried about him and others.

"I complained there was no crossing guard there," she said, laughing. Forest Ridge District 142 asked if she wanted the gig, and well—it stuck.

"I have been the only crossing guard there," she said.

She's crossed students ages pre-K at Ridge School, through fifth grade at Kerkstra Elementary. Her time spent helping some of the community's littlest isn't a surprise to many. The longtime Oak Forest resident sat on the District 142 and Bremen District 228 school boards, and served as alderwoman for two terms.

"I've pretty much been here my whole life," she said.

Hullinger retired earlier this year, and a replacement was hired. That replacement left shortly after the start of the school year, Hullinger said, and she returned for a short stint, and a final goodbye.

Her students know her for three furry companions who joined her each shift—her Boston terriers Junior, Chase, and Shelby—who were celebrities all on their own.

At the start of each school year, students are invited to chalk the sidewalks near the school, she said. And each school year, on her corner she'd find the note, "We miss you and the dogs."

The sentimentality hits Hullinger hard.

"I’ve crossed generations of kids," she said, "and now they’re grown up, and I’m crossing their kids.

"They were all my kids."

Hullinger remembers fondly interacting with the students.

"I have fixed many chains on bikes," she said, "Or when they come home with a big class project, will drive that home so they don't have to walk with it. I’ve given kids lunch money when they've forgotten it.

"I’ve just been there for all of them."

Hullinger's last day on the job was Sept. 8. Students sent her off with a banner signed by many, and administration gifted her with a stop sign, inked with all their signatures.

"It was a very sad day," she said, tearfully.

Hullinger and her husband Mike have purchased a home in Shelbyville, Illinois, near where they've spent years vacationing in their RV. They're renovating the home, and are happy to be hours closer to one of their sons, who lives in Missouri.

Hullinger has family in New Lenox, so will travel back to stay on occasion, and with most of her life spent in Oak Forest and many friends still there, she intends to visit her former hometown often.

"I always loved it there," she said. "I knew everybody, was involved in so many different things, met so many great people."

Though some things have changed, some have stayed the same: Hullinger has applied to be a crossing guard in her new community's school district.

She just can't sit still, she said.

"I have to keep busy."