The deaths in January of two DC 37 members touched the entire city. Both received full honor funerals usually reserved for uniformed personnel– a tribute to their importance and a first for a School Crossing Guard.

Elected officials and uniformed public safety officers joined family members, union leaders and co-workers of the late Emergency Medical Service Lt. Barbara Poppo and the late School Crossing Guard Betty Davis at their funerals in January.

Both DC 37 members were buried with full departmental honors. In fact, it was the first time the Police Dept. has done this for a Crossing Guard.

Local 3621 members grieved the loss of Lt. Poppo, who suffered a fatal heart attack Jan. 21 after shoveling snow early that morning at her Brooklyn ambulance station.

Local 3621 President Donald Rothschild said Ms. Poppo would be missed but never forgotten for her dedication and bravery.

“She had a bubbly personality that lit up a room whenever she entered. The full honor funeral was a sure sign that she had earned the respect of her superiors and of her co-workers,” he said.

Lt. Poppo was stricken with chest pains while she shoveled snow outside the Battalion 39 station house on Pennsylvania Avenue in East New York. Her co-workers, Emergency Medical Technicians and Paramedics, treated her before taking her to Coney Island Hospital, where she died.

In her honor, flags flew at half-staff and the black and purple banners of mourning were displayed at Battalion 39, Emergency Medica Service stations and firehouses across the city.

In her 13-year career at EMS, Lt. Poppo had saved the lives of three patients on the way to hospitals and earned the title of lieutenant just a year ago. She was 37 years old and left a 5-year-old daughter, Colleen.

Just two days before Lt. Poppo’s untimely death, School Crossing Guard Betty Davis was hit by a school van early on Jan. 19 at the intersection of Linden Boulevard and Cross Island Boulevard on the Queens-Nassau border. Ms. Davis, who belonged to Local 372, injured her head on the pavement and died several hours later at the Mercy Medical Center in Nassau County.

Local 372 President Veronica Montgomery-Costa sent prayers and condolences to the friends and family of Ms. Davis. “It is a sad irony that Ms. Davis suffered the same fate from which she fought to safeguard the children as a School Crossing Guard,” said Ms. Montgomery-Costa.

When she was hit, Ms. Davis was on her way to work in Cambria Heights, where she watched over children crossing at 115th Road and 221st Street to get to Sacred Heart School and Public School 147.

“A Crossing Guard for over 10 years, Ms. Davis was a dedicated and loving school worker who earned the respect of parents and co-workers,” said Luis Ithier, director of the Schools Division.

She had become a community symbol. Children in countless kindergarten classes over the years visited her on their first community walks.

In a sad tribute to Ms. Davis’ commitment, just days after her death, City Hall announced plans to provide funds to hire 400 more School Crossing Guards (see page 7).

Mr. Ithier, said that the full honor funeral for Ms. Davis and the last-minute hiring plan were rare examples of official governmental concern for School Crossing Guards. “They are the heroes who put their very bodies in harm’s way every working day to protect this city’s children,” he said.

Ms. Davis is survived by her six children and several grandchildren.