SWAMPSCOTT — Irma Rubin, who served the town of Swampscott for 40 years, first as a crossing guard and then as a police matron, has finally decided to retire.
Rubin, 83, who is originally from Lynn, finally stepped down earlier this month. She began her career as a Swampscott crossing guard around 1980, working at the same intersection on Humphrey Street, Atlantic Avenue and Puritan Road for 16 years.
“I could go out and work the streets, as they say,” said Rubin. “And be home when my kids got home.”
Through 16 years of service on the corner, she came to know most of the kids in the neighborhood.
This was back when the crossing guards were still hired by the police department. She would wear a full uniform — a police jacket with white gloves and black pants. Eventually though, Rubin said, the crossing guards were shifted from the police department’s jurisdiction because it cost the department too much to pay them.
“Once they decided that we were too expensive, we couldn’t wear the police jackets or the gloves or anything,” she said. “But some of us, they kept us on as matrons.”
As a police matron, Rubin was responsible for monitoring all the female prisoners brought into the police lockup for arrest. If they needed to be searched she would do that as well, since male officers were not allowed to.
“We basically babysat them until they went to court,” said Rubin. “Somebody had to be there to watch them in the cell, just to make sure they didn’t harm themselves.”
Mainly, she was tasked with keeping an eye on young shoplifters.
As a matron, Rubin worked on call, ready to take a shift any time a woman was brought into the station.
She served under three police chiefs and worked in two police stations.
Rubin started working in the cells of the old police station at 86 Burrill St., which she said was an unpleasant environment.
“It was down in the basement, and there were rats and mice crawling around there. I’d have to go home and take a shower right away,” she said.
The new police station on Humphrey Street was a major improvement for Rubin.
“Oh my God,” she said. “The new station is so much cleaner!”
Rubin, who has four children and is now a great-grandmother, finally decided to retire this year.
“I figured that it was a good time to retire,” said Rubin. “I’m not a teenager anymore, I’m 83 years old.”
Her last day was the first week of December. She is looking forward to taking it easy after a long 40 years of work.
“It’s been an experience,” she said. “I’m going to relax and enjoy myself. I don’t want to think about getting called in the middle of the night to go into the jail.”
