Paul as a crossing guard at the Kelley School
Newburyport native Paul Hawkes is one of the most popular people in the city. If you don’t know the name, you surely recognize him.
As custodian and crossing guard in the school district, he had accumulated a lot of friends back when he was working at The Kelley School.
Now he’s back where he started some 20 years ago. “in the Rupert A. Nock Middle School building.” He moved to the Edward G. Molin Upper Elementary when the historic Kelley School closed.
Hawkes attended the old elementary himself, in the 1960s, and to be sure everybody knows Paul.Think of all those children he has befriended and all of their parents, not to mention current and former staff members of the schools where he has served.
Hawkes has been a custodian for all his working life, starting out at Amesbury Hospital and Brigham Manor Nursing Home. At home, he does yard work and spends a lot of time in his sports room. “I love the Patriots and the Red Sox,” he said.
Hawkes enjoys his haddock dinners and shellfish, but he does not like the water. He can see the Merrimack River from his house, but don’t try to get him out there. “Especially not to go fishing” hehates that sport.
He may not be a fisherman, but he is a Peace Prize recipient: Hawkes was recognized by the city in 2006 with a local Peace Prize. “I’d like to suggest that Mr. Paul Hawkes is one of these angels we fail to recognize,” Mike Jacobson, former principal at Brown and Kelley elementary schools said at the time.
The criteria for consideration for a Peace Prize, which are awarded by the Commission for Diversity and Tolerance, are good conflict resolution skills, a diverse group of friends, and being open and tolerant to others.
Aside from spreading good will through his job, Hawkes raised (from 1986) his three step-children since they were aged five, four, and three.
Paul with former Brown and Kelley School Pincipal Mike Jacobson
