FALL RIVER — Peggy McGowan was a helper. 

 

If someone needed cheering up, Peggy helped them forget their problems. If you needed a ride, she’d ask when and where. If a fellow AA member needed anything from a coffee to a sponsor, she stepped up.  

 

In her job as a crossing guard, her instinct to reach out and help was at its purest — a fixture for several years outside Spencer Borden Elementary School, every morning and afternoon, she guided kids to safety across President Avenue. The fare was a high-five, a fist-bump, a kind greeting, a smile. And while Peggy had had a decades-long career in social services, this simple part-time gig, wearing a reflective vest and holding a stop sign, was the job she was most proud of. 

 

Peggy died March 28 after her car was hit head-on in Taunton. She was 67. Not only has she left behind a devastated, close-knit family — she is survived by hundreds of friends. She watched generations of them grow up on their way to and from school. 

 

Read more from Dan Medeiros at heraldnews.com.