Everyday Hero: Nancy Landford

Nancy Landford is more than a crossing guard: She's a guardian angel for the kids at Stocklmeir Elementary. Five days week, twice a day for the last four years, Landford has put her life on the line—well, in the middle of a crosswalk—to ensure the safety of the school kids she considers her own.

Landford commutes about two hours a day to and from the Los Gatos mountains for what she believes is the best job in the world, and has overcome her own childhood abuse to dedicate her life to children. Here she sits down with Patch to talk about the challenges and rewards that come with the job.

Cupertino Patch: Tell me a little bit about yourself and how you got into working with kids.

Nancy Landford: The children are the light of my life. I always say "good morning" and "good-bye" and high-five ‘em. When I was a kid, my father was sexually and physically and emotionally abusing me ... If I’d had somebody like me say "hi" or something, maybe I'd be OK in school and going home to that situation. ... I try to treat the children with the respect that I would like.

And I dress up for them all the time. All the holidays I’m dressed up.  People that don’t even have kids here, I put a smile on their faces, and that’s what makes my day.

Patch: How do you dress up?

Landford: Oh, I have Christmas hats, I have St. Patrick’s Day hats. This year I’m going for a Diwali outfit.

I just enjoy myself. I can’t think of a better job. I used to be a truck driver, and I used to get paid to travel, and I thought that was the best job ever. But then you have to put up with not-so-nice people, and here, everybody’s always been nice to me—the staff, the kids, the parents. I get social interaction with parents, which, living up in the mountains by myself, I don’t get that.

I also work the kindergarten at lunch time—I teach them little cute things. When I was a kid, whenever they made magic on Sesame Street, they'd go, "Abracadabra a la peanut butter sandwich!" and whenever the kids want me to open something, I say, "OK, what's the magic words?" And last year's kindergarten class, every one of them, could say the magic words!

Patch: I've heard you've been working with kids for 10 years; is that right?

Landford: Probably off and on for more than that. I used to have a day care center for a couple of years. Then I went to school and got my early childhood education teaching certificate.

Patch: How did you find out about this job?

Landford: Online. I just said, "I’ve always wanted to do something like that," so I applied and got the job.

Patch: Do you work anywhere else?

Landford: I’m disabled—I have a bad back and a bad knee and a bad neck. It’s all falling apart! I’m only 19 [she says, joking]. I’m stuck in this old person’s body … I shouldn’t be working at all, according to my doctor, but I have to make the bills, and this is the only reason worth my life, as far as I’m concerned.

I have a cat that I’m madly in love with; I’ve had him since the day he was born, and he’s basically the only other one who puts a smile on my face besides the kids.

Patch: So I read you were nominated for a Human Values Award.

Landford: When I got [to the awards ceremony], and they started reading off the people and their achievements and what they were doing, I felt like sneaking out the door. What I do is nowhere near as good as what they do. I hope I change some people’s lives and put smiles on everybody’s face. That’s my goal, to make them laugh, to make them smile. But I’m not bringing lights to so many different countries and stuff like that [laughs]. But it made my heart feel good that someone would put me in that class. 

Patch: What's the most challenging part of your job?

Landford: The drivers. The worst part about is, it's the parents—a lot of them, after they drop their kids off, they don’t care about anyone else’s kids. They just wanna go, go wherever they're gonna go. Sometimes they don’t care that I'm out there with my stop sign. [But] the kids know to wait for the whistle, and then I make sure that it's safe for them to go out there. You can't be going too fast, or I can use your insurance money, right? [laughs]

Patch: It seems like a constant battle!

Landford: Yeah, it’s a constant battle. There are some that are just repeat offenders. Usually by the second month, I know who the bad drivers are, and I let them go first. I’d just sooner have them out of my way than have to worry about them running my kids over. You have to learn who’s the bad driver. Sometimes you have to tell the [kids], wait, I have to let this person go, because I don’t trust them.

I'd rather be safe than sorry. I could not live with myself if something happened to one of my kids.

Patch: Any close calls?

Landford: With the kids? With me, yes! [laughs] The kids? There was one. The kids were in the sidewalk, and a car was making a right turn right in front of them. Luckily, I blew my whistle loud enough that they stopped and paid attention for a minute … I’d be screaming, too. I used to hit them with my stop sign, and then I got in trouble for that so I don’t do that anymore. It’s a cardboard stop sign! [laughs]

Patch: You’ve already talked about how rewarding you find this job, but is there one moment that stands out, where you felt like, “Wow, this is really the right place to be?”

Landford: Every time one of my kids gives me a hug. It warms my heart. Or [when a kid] gives me something special that was special to them, and they give it to me. I had one girl who had this little fancy red glitter hat that was hers, and she wanted me to have it, because I always wear silly hats. So I’m wearing it the first day of school—I’m putting Ms. Nancy on it, so that’ll make her feel good.