Leaving the Fast Lane : Retirement to Thin Ranks of 5 Teachers’ 17-Year Freeway Car Pool

Beverly Baghosin of Irvine retired Thursday.

After nearly three decades of teaching at Golden Spring School in Diamond Bar, though, there is something Baghosin might miss more than her classroom. Her car pool.

“That’s one of the hardest things,” Baghosin said of leaving the commuting quintet she has been part of for 17 years. “I’ll certainly miss the camaraderie of all that, keeping up with the latest.” Baghosin plans to stay in touch with the four Orange County women she rode with daily to Diamond Bar, but, she says, “it won’t be the same.”

The car pool won’t be the same, either. The four remaining riders have promised not to talk about Baghosin once she is gone, and there are no plans to fill her seat.

Car-pooling is not as simple as sharing a ride. These five teachers have learned over the years that success depends on flexible, generous, compatible and punctual partners. When one woman moved away for two years, the car pool tried out a few replacements, but no one made the grade. One newcomer lasted only one day.

“You could take five other people, and it would never work because they wouldn’t want to make it work,” explained Susan Whittemore of Tustin.

Whittemore and two of her Golden Spring colleagues moved to Orange County in the early 1970s, but the 40-minute commute seemed daunting. Thus, the car pool was born.

Baghosin joined the crew a few years later, and Jackie Dodd filled the fifth seat when she moved south five years ago.

“It’s a nice support system,” said Donna Westlund of Irvine, explaining that she and her car-pool comrades have struggled through marriage, divorce, childbirth and parental deaths since they began riding the road together.

“It makes it possible to live where you want to live,” said Whittemore. As Baghosin put it, “just having fun in the morning helps us keep our sanity.”

Each morning at 7:10 a.m., the group gathers at a coffee shop near the 17th Street on-ramp to the Costa Mesa Freeway. On a typical day earlier this week, Westlund arrived in the 1974 baby blue BMW that has been with the car pool since the beginning, and Whittemore’s Honda Civic wagon pulled in next. Baghosin parked her Thunderbird, and the three awaited Dodd and Maureen Davison, who form a mini-car pool for their ride up from Newport Beach.

After leaving their cars in the shopping plaza parking lot, the women plop their purses in the trunk and pile into the morning’s designated vehicle. “We all just squeeze in and go on our way,” said Westlund, noting that the only regulation on new-car purchases is that five people can fit.

Paper cups of coffee in hand, the car poolers compliment each others’ attire and trade tidbits of gossip. Unless there are traffic alerts, the radio is off so they can talk. Davison, the resident comic, might offer a silly riddle. If a school assembly or talent show is approaching, Baghosin, the in-house artistic director, will lead the plotting of a skit.

They trade teaching tricks and plod through personal problems. They review restaurants, books, movies and plays at South Coast Repertory, where all five have season passes. Since they all wear size 7, they sometimes swap shoes.

“We share ideas,” said Whittemore, who now teaches first grade at Decker School in Diamond Bar. “You’re all in the same boat, so it helps to take a lot of the stress away.”

The trek up the Costa Mesa, Garden Grove, Orange and Pomona freeways breezes by amid happy chatter. Schoolchildren recognize the car pool as it drops Baghosin and sixth-grade instructor Jackie Dodd at Golden Spring and cruises two more miles to Decker School. After a quick stop at the teachers’ lounge, the women are ready to face their students.

“The nicest thing about it is when they get here they’re in a good mood,” said co-worker Donna Stevenson, Decker’s resource specialist.

“If they weren’t together, they might get here all nervous and frustrated,” agreed Decker Principal Virginia Scott. “By the end of the day they have a lot to share. This way, by the time they get home, any fatigue and frustration has worn off.”

After nearly two decades of the daily ritual, the community is finally starting to respond to the women’s efforts. The Pomona district launched a car-pool incentive program this year in which Davison won a television, Westlund got a camera and all five earned a day off. And, this week, Caltrans opened the special car-pool lane on the Orange Freeway.

“Whee, here we go!” cried Westlund as Dodd’s white Audi swung into the far left lane for the first time and sped by lumbering traffic.