96-year-old crossing guard hopes to make it to 100

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    MILWAUKEE (WISN) — A 96-year-old retired schoolteacher, who is now a crossing guard in the Sherman Park neighborhood, says he loves what he does, and he’s hoping to hit a milestone.

“I get up at about 4 o’clock in the morning,” Julius Campbell said. “And then I go down to this corner, at 6:30 a.m.”

The World War II Navy veteran and retired MPS teacher has seen a lot in his time, but he said helping kids cross the street near North 51st Boulevard and West Roosevelt Drive to Yeshiva Elementary School is a rewarding experience.

“I just love education and being around and doing things for people, helping people,” Campbell said.

It takes less than 20 seconds to cross the street.

That’s how much time Campbell has taken to forge lifelong bonds, little by little, day by day for the past 24 years.

“A lot of the kids graduate, come back, and I’m getting their kids going now,” Campbell said.

He said they keep him young.

And when you ask the 96-year-old the secret to staying active: “I never lived a rough or fast life. Never drank, and I never all those things, run around late at night, so that makes a difference.”

Looking forward, he said he wants to make it to 100.

“But as long as life, as long as my health is good, I’ll stick with it,” Campbell said.

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