School crossing guards save lives by providing additional security at crosswalks during school hours. Can you imagine a busy intersection during rush hour with hundreds of anxious children maneuvering through heavy traffic at a crosswalk without a crossing guard? Not a comfortable thought… so it’s not surprising that another such guardian of our school crossings in Provo’s inner city was recently brought to my attention, as was the previous interview in June of 2023.
On a Tuesday afternoon, 18 February, I went out to the corner of 700 W 800 N to meet with crossing guard Merna Talbot. She had asked me if I wouldn’t mind doing the interview with her on location, at the crosswalk, while she was working. Explaining to Merna that it was a bit unusual for me to interview a subject who was busy at their job, let alone at a windy street corner, I then assured her that I would give it a try. When I arrived, there was no one at the crossing. I knew instinctively that something ill had happened. Called her, and no answer!
Aaron Skabelund, BikeWalk Provo Operations Director, had given me the story lead, so I mentioned this to him. After a few calls and one personal encounter, Aaron helped me to unveil the mystery...
"I'm now living in Palmyra, Wisconsin with my daughter,” Merna Talbot tells me from Wisconsin upon my call to her a few weeks later. Merna had some health problems, which initiated the abrupt move, although she sounded cheerful and welcoming to me. “Working as a school crossing guard for fifteen years, I really liked that location [at 700 W 800 N]. I used to work over on the east side of town [in Provo], they always hired me to do the heavy traffic areas, because they knew I would always be there.” A delightful conversation with Merna began taking shape.
"I used to teach kindergarten out in the far end of south Salt Lake County, for 10 years. When I was thirty-two I got married and started teaching kindergarten, thought it was a joyful way to spend my life. Started crossing guard [assignments] in 2000, it gave me some pocket money and with the kids [her own] I didn't have time for teaching. I would be there early for a few of the kids who had early classes and that needed some help. Just be there for the kids,” Merna reminisces warmly with me about her earlier days here in Provo.
I’m enjoying our chat, as Merna recounts. "We [her and her husband] moved to Provo on the west side of town in 2000. My husband had a job in Kent, Washington for fifteen years working for The Boeing Company; we moved directly to Provo from Washington. I grew up in La Puente, California in East Los Angeles. I went to BYU, an art major [graduate] and then I got a teaching credential. After that I went to teach for eight years in Midvale, in south Salt Lake County. I met my husband at BYU, and later when we were married we moved to Midvale.”
"Connie [Robinson] was my first friend when I came back to Utah; she was doing crossing guard at that time too,” Merna expresses gleefully. I had talked with Connie Robinson a few days before calling Merna and Connie had said, "...used to watch movies with Merna at my house often, sometimes every night." Aaron Skabelund adds, "Eric Chase's kids and others I know in that neighborhood used that crosswalk for years to get to Timpanogos Elementary."
“Merna, you'll be missed here in Provo,” I sadly say in closing our interview. "I love Provo too!" were Merna’s crystal clear parting words to me.
