Local Crossing Guard Dedicated To Her Post For 51 Years
CHURCHILL (KDKA) -- Kids come from all directions every school day morning, and Miss Ruth is always there to greet them at her post in Wilkins Township.
Ruth Fecko, 82, has been a crossing guard for 51 years.
"It gets me up and out in the morning," she says. And I just enjoy children."
It's a career that spans generations.
"I crossed their parents when they grew up," Ruth says. "And now I'm crossing their kids."
Pam Shugerman says two of her daughters were helped across the street by Miss Ruth.
"She's become our adopted grandmother and my adopted mother," Pam says. "Not only does she put my kids on the bus, but she tells me what to do, and if my hair looks okay in the morning."
"It's a long walk in the cold, so it's kind of nice, like warm, to get here and hear her," says student William Deemer.
Tristan Gibson agrees.
"She always keeps me company in the morning, especially on those longer days when the bus was late," said Tristan.
Ruth and her husband recently marked their 65th anniversary. He's been driving a school bus for 24 years. Kids call him Mr. Nick.
"He can't get me to retire, so he said he might as well drive this school bus," says his wife. "And everybody loves Mr. Nick."
"We talk about her dog and how she's been, and she asks us how we've been, and on holidays she asks how was it and what's going on," student Krista Burley adds
Retirement? Forget it!
"I want to see what happens to them," says the crossing guard. "I want to watch them grow up. And they stop back and see me."
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