Obituary North: Doris Mary Riddle / Retired school crossing guard in Butler

Sunday, September 24, 2006

By Alisha Hipwell
 

During her nearly 40 years as a school crossing guard, Doris Mary Riddle helped thousands of children in the Butler area make it safely to school.

In many cases, her help spanned two generations of the same family.

"She and I would go shopping and we would run into people all the time that she crossed," said her daughter, Kay Steffler, of Middlesex. "There are people who still live in the West End [of Butler] that she crossed them and their children."

Mrs. Riddle, of the Lyndora section of Butler, died of lung cancer last Sunday in Shelbourne Assisted Living Residence in Penn. She was 86.

She started working as a school crossing guard in 1950 and was assigned to Monroe Street, where she helped St. Paul School pupils cross the street.

In later years, she was assigned to a Mercer Street post to cross Broad Street elementary pupils. But the majority of her career -- nearly 30 years -- was spent at a post on New Castle Street helping West End Elementary School pupils.

Three times a day -- morning, noon and afternoon -- Mrs. Riddle was at her post. She got to know her young charges well and often attended their school Christmas parties and Easter parades. The children frequently would bring her gifts on holidays.

"She was very good with them. They really loved her," her daughter said.

Mrs. Riddle also became friendly with those who lived in the neighborhoods and they would invite her in for coffee when the weather was cold and for iced tea when it was hot. She made friends among the state police, whose barracks were nearby.

Stopping traffic on New Castle Street required a certain amount of nerve because it is a busy road, her daughter said. Over the years, Mrs. Riddle encountered fender benders, speeding cars and near accidents. She retired as a crossing guard in 1986.

Mrs. Riddle was born and raised in Butler and graduated from Butler High School. She was an avid reader and enjoyed crossword puzzles.

Her husband, Harold E. Riddle, died in 1993.

In addition to her daughter, she is survived by a sister, Verna McKain, of Butler; two sons, Harold Kenneth Riddle, of the Lyndora section of Butler; and David Riddle, of Duluth, Ga.; seven grandchildren; and six great-grandchildren.

A funeral was held Thursday in William F. Young Jr. Funeral Home in Butler. Burial was in Greenlawn Burial Estates in Mount Chestnut.