Songs from the church choir and a special…
By Kathianne Boniello
With songs and prayer more than 150 people turned out at Sacred Heart Church in Cambria Heights this weekend to remember school crossing guard Betty Davis, who died in February after being hit by a school bus.
Songs from the church choir and a special tribute by second-grade students from Sacred Heart highlighted Saturday’s memorial mass attended by about 150 people. Davis’ death has sparked a movement to rename the street she guarded in front of the school in her honor and has moved Sacred Heart school, where she worked, to offer a scholarship in her memory.
Davis, 62, had been a crossing guard at the intersection of 115th Road and 221st Street outside the Sacred Heart School for five years, when she fell in January after being accidentally grazed by a school bus. An ultimately fatal brain injury resulted from the fall, and Davis died last month.
Father Michael Gribbon, who presided over Saturday’s mass, praised the mother of six for “the gift of her generosity.”
“In good times and bad times she was there,” he said. “That kind of fidelity is remarkable.”
State Sen. Malcolm Smith (D-St. Albans) attended the memorial and presented a state proclamation honoring Davis to her children.
Smith said he decided to prepare the proclamation, which was passed Feb. 13, after attending Davis’ funeral.
“It struck me so heavy on my heart because she was a family person,” Smith said. “This memorializes her in the state Senate.”
The principal of Sacred Heart School, who identified herself as Mrs. Russell-Smith, said Davis became a member of the school family and was adored by the students.
“They loved her,” she said. “She was like their guardian angel, she watched over them. She was wonderful.”
Russell-Smith said the well-attended mass was “proof of the fact of the love and respect everyone had for her.”
While the Sacred Heart choir received loud applause and cheers for several of its performances during the mass, it was a simple song by a group of second-graders in honor of Davis that elicited a standing ovation from the audience.
Lt. Gerard Coope of the 105th Precinct, who attended the mass, said “everybody knew her, everybody loved her.” Coope also noted Davis’ dedication to her job as a school crossing guard.
“Nothing stopped her from getting here,” Coope said of Davis, who also wrote gospel songs, sang in a Hollis Hills choir, and worked with the handicapped.
Davis’ daughter Beverly spoke for her family at the mass.
“Mom has taught us so much,” she said, “how to love, forgive and to be a peacemaker.”
Renaldo Hylton, Davis’ son, said the mass was a comfort to the family.
“It’s just good to see that everyone would come out and support us,” he said afterward. “It was a great celebration of Mom’s life.”
Reach reporter Kathianne Boniello by e-mail at Timesledgr@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 146.
