Right off the bat, sixth grader Joe Hansen knew he made the Big Leagues when he joined his South Arlington, Virginia AAA School Safety Patrol in the late 1940s.
The retired Shelton engineer recalls how his patroller duties influenced his life: “It’s made me responsible by being attentive to my duties. It developed in me a perseverance to do what’s expected,” he recalls. “In a way, it was my first job and I appreciated the opportunity to participate.”
AAA Northeast recently honored Joe as a “Traffic Safety Hero” at its 6th Annual Traffic Safety Community Award lunch where the motor club also recognizes police departments and individual officers for their Traffic Safety Achievements over the past year.
Joe and his wife, Liz, both of Shelton, were one of several honorees at the lunch where AAA Northeast highlighted this year’s 95th anniversary of the National School Safety Patrol Program.
Joe also was one of several hundred AAA members and former school patrollers from Litchfield, Fairfield, and New Haven Counties, who responded to a request earlier this year from AAA Northeast CEO Mark Shaw to share those patrol memories. Most, if not all, described how the AAA School Safety Patrol philosophy of leadership, responsibility and traffic safety shaped their own lives.
Raymond “Joe” Hansen says his fondest memories of his School Patroller Days at Nellie Custis Elementary School in South Arlington, Virginia, occurred the year he and his fellow patrollers marched down Washington DC’s Pennsylvania Avenue with much fanfare in the AAA National’s annual School Safety Patrol Parade.
For him, the day was a grand slam because he not only marched; he attended his first professional baseball game with hordes of other area patrollers from throughout the country.
And what a game it was! The Washington Senators took on the Cleveland Indians and at one point, “a relief pitcher came in for Cleveland,” Joe recalls. “He was throwing with a wind-up like no other pitcher (did).”
His name: Leroy “Satchel” Paige, a trailblazing black ballplayer with a scorching fastball that landed him in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
There are other vignettes and photos of area Safety Patrol veterans, who shared memories on a new page of the AAA website: www.aaa.com/safetypatrol.
The largest safety program in the world, the AAA School Safety Patrol Program has more than 600,000 Patrollers in 33,500 schools nationwide who work with teachers, police and crossing guards to ensure the safety of classmates.
In AAA Northeast’s territory covering Litchfield, Fairfield, and New Haven Counties, 135 schools – an estimated 2,000 students – serve as school patrol bus, playground, and hallway monitors. They also assist teachers in walking students to corners and safe areas of school driveways; and monitoring bus loading/unloading zones and carpool areas.
“The program helps students develop leadership skills and encourages academic achievement and commitment to community involvement,” says Fran Mayko, AAA Northeast’s School Safety Patrol coordinator. “Their duties earn respect and recognition from peers, school administrators and community leaders.”
