A 102-year-old World War II veteran has finally retired after more than three decades of service as a school crossing guard.
Thomas Faucette guided the schoolchildren of North Carolina’s Guilford County Schools across the road for 36 years, his second career after the war, CBS17 reported.
After serving in the military, Faucette began working with the U.S. Postal Service until retiring in 1986 — but he couldn’t sit still.
Two years later, he began working as a crossing guard at Peck Elementary School in Greensboro.
“I don’t know which way to go,” the centenarian said on Friday, the final day of the school year. “Up, down, south.”
What made his job rewarding was “seeing them going and coming safely across the street,” his wife, Elizabeth Faucette, said.
The students and staff gathered in front of the school building to send the beloved crossing guard off one last time.
“Not many people get to this point in their career and live a life as amazing as Mr. Faucette has,” said Principal Ashley Triplett.
“It really has not hit him yet,” Elizabeth told the local outlet, saying how she’s planning things to help keep him busy in the absence of work.
“I don’t know who we’re going to find that’s going to replace Mr. Faucette. It’s going to be hard for whoever comes behind him,” Triplett said. “They certainly have a legend to follow.”
The Greensboro Police Department also celebrated Faucette for his decades of service, saying “we could not thank him enough for his years of service and now that he’s 102 years old, he truly deserves a wonderful retirement.”
“Thank you, Mr. Faucette,” police wrote in an Instagram post.
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