Please sign this petition in support of a formal request for a Street Dedication located at 121st Street and Rockaway Boulevard in honor of NYPD School Crossing Guard Lorraine P. Elliott, who was killed in the line of duty on February 5, 1980.

On the early morning of January 10, 1980, witnesses stated our mother was in the process of working her post at the extremely busy intersection of Lefferts Boulevard and Rockaway Boulevard.  While Mom was crossing a group of schoolchildren, a neighbor, while turning right from Rockaway Blvd. onto Lefferts Blvd., reportedly became blinded by the winter sun reflecting off the snow, but continued to drive forward anyway. 

Our mother quickly and instinctively pushed the children into a soft snowbank near the curb and took the brunt force of the driver's Cadillac, knocking her to the ground, causing a significant head injury.

Mom was rushed to Jamaica Hospital, went through several hours of surgery to drain her brain of the almost 2 pints of blood the doctors stated accumulated and vegetated in a coma for 28 days.

Our mother passed away on February 5, 1980, as a result of the injuries she sustained in the line of duty because she was dedicated to protecting the children—even if it meant she may be hurt in the process. 

She was 45 years young.  I was 15-, my brother Kevin was 14- and my sister Kathryn was only nine years old. And we became orphans, wards of the state.

What you may not know is, we were extremely poor and our mother was raising my brother, sister, and me alone while also trying to protect us from an alcoholic and extremely physically abusive father. Our fear was real, for this was a man who beat my brother one Christmas Eve to the point of hospitalization before the police could arrive to save us and he broke my leg by throwing me across a room while I was trying to protect my mother during another incident.

During a time in our society where domestic abuse was a ‘family problem’, our mother did all she could legally do to protect us: contacted the police each time he showed up drunk; went to court to successfully be granted Orders of Protection, a long yellow document of which all four of us had to have on our person in case he showed up at our school or home. 

When Mom gained employment as an NYPD SCG, she was relieved because it allowed her the opportunity to be home during the times when we were, so she could protect us from our father if he ever showed up. Protecting children came naturally to her.  And when we could no longer receive food stamps because of her employment, she turned it into a lesson, as she did with most everything, and explained we should always work for our keep instead of being idle and accepting handouts.

I share this extremely personal information with you so you can truly understand how incredibly special a person our mother was, and not only to us.

As you can see by the attached pages, (via email- https://www.facebook.com/groups/58576397998/  Born and Raised in South Ozone Park) many SOP folks remember our Mom, even 40 years later, people reach out to my siblings and me with their memories of how kind, compassionate, and caring a person she was to each and every person she met. 

Virtually every single NYC police officer who is killed in the line of duty has a community dedication within months of their passing. 

We support our Mother, a humble, yet profoundly remembered member of the South Ozone Park, NY community, to be recognized for her unselfish and ultimate sacrifice. Because EVERY school crossing guard is an unsung hero of each police department, in every single community.

They work each and every tour, outdoors, enduring freezing or scorching temperatures, brutal winter weather, pelting rain, lightning, etc., and put their lives on the line every single day when they encounter distracted, under-the-influence, or arrogantly speeding drivers.  

Our mother’s ultimate sacrifice, every school crossing guard's ultimate sacrifice, should no less be perpetually honored than as one of a police officer.

On behalf of my brother Kevin, my sister Kathryn, our collective children, and my grandchildren, I am kindly asking for your support in honor of my Mother, School Crossing Guard Lorraine P. Elliott. Which will be an honor for all of our unsung heroes.

Thank you.