'Crossing Guard Queen' gets a party

AUSTIN (KXAN) - When Clairlea Eckert kicked off her 29th year on the job as a school crossing guard, her mind started humming. A year down the road would mark her three decade mark at Casis Elementary School in West Austin and Eckert knew she wanted to pay attention to that date.

So as the anniversary approached, the “Queen of the Crossing Guards,” as she is known because of her long tenure, got excited.

“I’ve been waiting a whole year for this,” she said. “I’ve been planning this.”

Eckert invited a few friends from the neighborhood to come down and pose with her for a picture. She also procured a handful of balloons to hang at the corner of her intersection.

So when she arrived for her afternoon shift, she was in a good mood. Some of the folks she had reached out to showed up. Then some people she hadn’t invited arrived. Then more and more and more parents and children gathered around.

Eckert’s eyes widened.

“I didn’t expect this,” she grinned. “I was just expecting my little deal.”

The crossing guard laughed aloud when she realized most of her subjects were wearing funny hats. There’s a reason they did that.

“When I was a young child,” Eckert recalled, “I had long, beautiful hair. And when I was five years old, I got a haircut, got an Afro and I hated my hair. I wore wigs when I was a sophomore and junior in high school. And I decided I was going to find hats to wear because I got tired of the look of my hair and I just kept it up.

“And I got tired of wearing white shoe strings in a pair of shoes so I have over 400 pairs of shoe strings that I change every day to match my outfits.”

So the colorful headgear sported by Eckert’s subjects honored her. The cookies handed out in the crowd delighted her. And the gifts offered by children touched her deeply.

After all, this woman well remembers when she was a child at Casis.

“I went here from 1963 to 1969,” she said, “and I went here from first grade through sixth grade and grew up right behind the school house on Maria Anna and lived their for 28 years.

“So some of these parents that bring their kids to school, I also babysat for them when they were little and now I'm doing their kids and taking care of their dogs.”

And speaking of dogs, pity the fool that speeds by Casis or runs a stop sign at Eckert’s corner.

“I let 'em know that they're going to be in my dog house,” she said, “and that the dogs get to sleep in the bed and they get to sleep in the dog house, because they know when I mean business.

“They're supposed to be role models. So they're supposed to set an example for their children.”

Back on the corner, the Queen of Crossing Guards took up her post in the middle of a throng of parents and children. They let out a whoop and followed it up with cheers and applause.

Her majesty beamed, picked up her portable stop sign and headed for the street. Some children were waiting to cross and they needed their queen.