Carrol Baker isn’t the usual crossing guard at Benton Elementary School, but she fits right in.

She has been substituting on guard duty every morning at 8:10 a.m. and 3:10 p.m. for the past month for her boyfriend, Billy Talbert, who is fighting cancer. Billy has worked the corner at Hinkson Avenue and Ripley Street for the past nine years.

"Billy’s a good man," Carrol says. "He likes the kids and his work."

Carrol began working in housekeeping when she was 16 at the Arrowhead Motel. She later worked at University and Columbia Regional hospitals.

"I worked at the university for seven years," she says. "I transferred over to Columbia Regional, and at 61 I retired, like a dummy."

Carrol says she worked in housekeeping in various motels after her husband, Charles Baker, died. Charles drove a cab in Columbia for several years.

Carrol is 65 now and enjoys needlework - and her newfound work as a crossing guard.

"I love doing this," she says, guiding another school bus around the corner as the brakes squeak to a stop in front of the school.

Carrol doesn’t drive anymore; she says she forgot about her birthday one year and her license expired. "I just never did go fool with trying to get it back," she says.

But she loves helping other drivers navigate around the school. "Yeah, I love doing it - as long as I don’t cause no wrecks," she says, laughing.

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