Dorothy Pettit's brainchild in 1964 of Block Homes went viral before there was such technology.
Viral in those days, not so long ago, meant mentions in the Dear Abby advice column.
Block Homes were a child safety plan. Their signs were an easily recognizable sanctuary for any child in trouble on his or way to or from school.
A haven from being besieged by molesters, bullies or dogs, as The World-Herald's Al Frisbie described it when the program began in 1964.
Pettit, a mother of three, was the juvenile protection chairman of the Parent-Teacher Association at Mason School, 24th and Mason Streets.
"We do not feel our school neighborhood merits any more protection than any other, and we are not attempting to frighten any child,'' she said, "but many youngsters live some distance from school. These block homes are like fallout shelters, to be used as needed."
The Omaha PTA council and the Omaha school board cleared the program that was unanimously endorsed by the Mason School PTA. Donald Pettit, her husband, and PTA President Kenneth Williams made the first yellow-and-black "Block Home" signs.
By March 1, 1964, 30 families signed up to be Block Homes.
Block Home residents, who needed vetting by the PTA, were not required or expected to be on outside patrol. They were asked to be at home on most school days at the appropriate times in case of emergency.
After six months, Pettit said, at least one child was helped. A 4-year-old boy was found one late-winter evening crying in an alley and was taken to a Block Home. He was so upset he couldn't remember his name or where he lived.
The Block Home family comforted him while he warmed up while the police were called. An hour later, he and his parents, who lived 10 blocks away, were reunited.
Dear Abby's Sunday column for Oct. 11, 1964, included a letter from someone signing it "Loves Children." It described the Block Home initiative. The headline was "Omaha's 'Block Plan.'"
"If you see the merit of this plan, I hope you will print it in your column where it will get nationwide publicity and move other communities to copy it,'' the letter closed.
Jackson School at 31st and Jackson Streets and Miller Park School at 28th and Ellison Avenues were the next in Omaha to start Block Home programs. And South St. Paul, Minnesota, too, according to a follow-up article in The World-Herald on Nov. 22, 1964.
Maybe coincidentally, that was the same Sunday that Dear Abby printed another letter, this one by Mason School's principal, George Laitner.
"We are so pleased and proud that you gave nationwide attention to our Mason School block plan,'' he began.
Laitner included details on how to contact the school for information. He said he wrote her in part to give credit where credit was due.
"Since the plan originated at Mason, I felt it ought to be called the Mason School Plan,'' he said.
Using a ditto and then a mimeograph machine, Laitner answered every inquiry. One day before Thanksgiving that first year, he worked 12 hours on the replies.
The Nebraska PTA awarded the Mason PTA its President's Trophy in May 1965 for Block Homes. Pettit, now the Mason PTA president, said the plan had spread to all 50 states and West Germany.
When Laitner retired in 1983, he said that letter eventually generated thousands of inquiries from educators in every state and Canada. A principal in Alaska wrote that moose had been "bothering our children."
Block Home signs became uniform in design in Omaha in 1970. Partly responsible was a letter to The World-Herald's Action Editor help column.
Mrs. Robert Miller in the Masters School neighborhood of then-northwest Omaha wrote in for Block Home signs. Northwestern Bell, the forerunner of Century Link, volunteered to design the signs and furnish them to PTAs.
The design, which the Omaha PTA council approved, had the words "Block Home" with a roof drawn over the lettering to form the shape of a house.
First to get the new signs were Block Homes in the Masters, Laura Dodge and St. James Catholic grade school neighborhoods.
The Block Homes program continued into the 1980s. Times were changing.
The program had a surge in participation after the slayings of Danny Eberle and Christopher Walden in Sarpy County and the disappearances of paperboys Johnny Gosch and Eugene Martin in Des Moines early in the decade.
There were more than 500 homes and businesses in the Omaha Block Home program in 1984. The vetting became the responsibility of the Omaha Police Department, who conducted "cursory" background checks on applicants (who usually were mothers).
"No one wants to think about what could happen if a child molester or other criminal attempted to participate in the program to have children come to his door,'' opined a Sunday World-Herald editorial.
The Block Home program was phased out in 1988, replaced by the McGruff House Program backed by the National Safety Council. McGruff is its crime-fighting detective dog character still in use.
Omaha police found that Block Home signs in some cases had been issued and subsequently a resident had been arrested, disqualifying the house from displaying the sign, or that Block Home signs had not been taken out when a house had new residents.
Block Homes lasted 24 years. McGruff Houses likewise.
In 2012, the national program was discontinued because of funding problems. In Omaha, about 525 safe homes were in the program, but in the previous four years -- thankfully, one could say -- no one reported assisting any children.
Also pushing the obsolescence were cellphones and GPS tracking.
Dorothy Pettit devoted her life to helping protect children. She worked for the YMCA and Greater Omaha Community Action and opened the first teen center at 24th and Vinton Streets.
When Pettit died in 2004, daughter Cheryle Lakin said, "She was a safe haven for kids."
A perfect epitaph.
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