Hi Seal Beach,
Our longest serving Crossing Guard Betty Camacho retired on October 28, 2022, after 28 years of service to the City of Seal Beach. She has been stationed at the 12th and PCH intersection for the last 22 years and is beloved by so many McGaugh parents and children.
Miss Betty was recognized at the City Council Meeting on December 12.
Lt. Julia Clasby interviewed Betty in preparation for the City Council meeting. Here’s what Lieutenant Clasby wrote:
“On October 28, 2022, one of the most beloved City of Seal Beach employees retired. Betty Trudeau Camacho or “Miss Betty” was hired by the City of Seal Beach in 1994 as a crossing guard and has served tirelessly, faithfully, and selflessly for the last 28 years.
“Betty started her Crossing Guard career in 1973 in her home city of Anaheim. In 1992 she decided to leave Anaheim to come to the beach and settled into a home on 8th Street where she lived for the next 30 years. In 1994, Betty’s husband suggested that she return to her passion for Crossing Guard service and apply with the City of Seal Beach. Betty was hired by Sergeant Rick Ransdell, another long-time and very much beloved Seal Beach employee (Rick retired in 2018).
“Betty was a Crossing Guard for the City of Seal Beach for the past 28 years. She has worked at every school crossing guard location in the city and spent the last 22 years stationed at PCH and 12th St. When I asked Betty if she looks forward to a much-deserved retirement, she shared, “Being a crossing guard is my life. I will miss the families and the children. I don’t know if I’ll ever get over it.” I asked if maybe she could become a crossing guard in her new home city of Huntington Beach, to which she replied that there is no place like Seal Beach. Betty expressed her love for the children and families that have crossed her path at PCH and 12th over the past 28 years.
“Thank you, Betty, for your service to the City of Seal Beach. We are deeply grateful and forever in your debt for your impressive tenure and unwavering dedication to the care and safety of our most important treasures, our children.
Betty
By Mike Magrann (written in the early 1990s)
Betty the Crossing guard Lady
Dressed for the Arctic
Prepared for the worst
A foot on the curb and a thumb on the button
Again, again
Like ringing the doorbell of an empty house
Eyes ever moving
-Good mornings slip from the side of her mouth-
Eyes moving- ever
The talk is of weather, vacations to come
Ever moving eyes!
The wet of the fog, the will of the Sun
Trucks big as whales!
Bicycle Fish!
Every car holds a Promise
A Threat
A Wish
She finally wades to the middle, and raises red sign
She holds it there
Holding back the Lions with only a chair
Then beckons us to her, and finally away
On our way
Another day
Thanks to her, Betty
Another Day
