'This job is what she loved': Family mourns death of beloved Spencer Borden crossing guard
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.
“This job is what she loved," said niece Katie McGowan. “She loved every single day of it. Every day.”
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.
The school loved her back. Plans are currently in the works to honor her with a permanent memorial.
For Katie McGowan, it’s bittersweet to have known Peggy's generosity but not be able to feel it again.
"There’s one less person in the world you know that has your back,” she said.
McGowan a 'wild child' with a strong sense of self
She was born in Taunton as Margaret, but most knew her as Peggy. Others called her Toots — and when young she was "very much a prankster," said her brother, Bill, describing her as a life of the party type.
“She was a little bit of a wild child in high school,” said Katie. “Anyone who refers to her as Toots — oh boy!”
Those who only knew the sweet retired lady who helped them cross the street may never have known that Peggy had an outrageous side — the side that loved to dance in costumes, that became excited like a kid at parties, the side that, as Katie said, lost her mind “in the best way possible” screaming herself hoarse at sporting events.
Another niece, Beth Phillips, remembered Peggy driving her around in a silver Mazda sports car blasting Michael Jackson. At one holiday party, wearing a floppy sombrero, she danced around the room while playing percussion with a wooden spoon and cheese grater.
“When she was younger, I thought she was the cool aunt,” Beth said. “One of the things that I found humanizing about her was that she kind of had a potty mouth, actually — in the right company. ... She was pure of heart, but not pure of mouth.”
“She was unapologetically her true, authentic self," said Katie. “That’s one of the most awe-inspiring things about Peg. She was herself. She didn’t mold to fit in a certain group.”
And yet if Peggy could be rambunctious, her family said, she also had incredible focus. A drinker in her younger years, she threw herself into sobriety and maintained it rigorously for 39 years, a feat of which she was enormously proud. She focused on work and school, with a career that began right after high school and an educational journey that lasted into middle age.
"Peg started with the state when she was 18, 19 years old when she got out of high school,” said Bill.
She was an attendant at the Paul A. Dever School in Taunton, a state school for those with mental disabilities, for 23 years.
Bill said “education became a big thing for her." She started taking courses at Bristol Community College while working at the Dever School and finished her bachelor’s degree in social work at Bridgewater State University.
“She was really proud of the fact that she went back for her master’s degree while working for the state ... at Boston College,” Bill said.
It was a process that took her into her forties, but she graduated with a master’s in social work. From there, she became a case manager for the Department of Developmental Services in its Plymouth office. An educator himself, Bill said he was struck by Peggy’s long commitment to improving herself.
"It was amazing that she made it after so many years,” he said. “It was just perseverance and plugging through it.”
McGowan's family and her 'foster kids'
Peggy never married or had children, beyond the kids she helped across the street.
“These kids became like her foster kids,” said Bill. “Especially the kids at Spencer Borden. Spencer Borden became a special place with her, I think.”
Relatives said, even more than her lengthy career in social work, being a crossing guard was Peggy’s life’s work – her favorite job by far. When kids and parents were still groggy from sleep in the morning, she greeted them with friendly chat and a fist-bump. In the afternoon, she escorted kids back home after a long day. If kids were underdressed in bad weather, she noticed and reached out to help. She still recognized kids long after they aged out of elementary school on their way to Durfee High. She attended their sports games and events, even if it meant traveling. She took an interest in their lives. What is ordinarily a part-time job in retirement for a few extra bucks meant much more.
“It gave her purpose,” Bill said. “It filled a need in Peggy’s life. ... She needed to be around people, and she needed to be moving. If she wasn’t moving or doing something for somebody, I think she felt out of sorts.”
To her three nieces, Beth said Peggy was a “bonus” parent, always caring, always reliable. She was picking up her youngest niece, Mackenzie, 16, from work on the night of Saturday, March 10, when this parent was taken from them.
The District Attorney’s Office alleges that Peggy and Mackenzie were in a Honda CRV driving east on Route 44 in Taunton. Authorities allege that Ricky J. Ponte, 29, was headed west, speeding and driving drunk. He allegedly attempted to illegally pass another vehicle when his Mercedes hit the CRV head-on. Mackenzie broke an ankle. Peggy was in much worse shape. She would linger hospitalized for over two weeks.
The family was devastated, news of which soon spread to Spencer Borden. Teachers in several classes, and at Durfee, connected with her family and delivered get-well cards and messages. Katie said the messages were a comfort to the family after days spent in the hospital waiting for good news.
“We read them to Peg, and we do think that she heard them,” she said.
Katie said in the end the injuries were too significant for Peggy to survive. She died on March 28.
The family is still processing the grief. Her sister, Patricia, was particularly close to Peggy and is having the hardest time, Katie said.
“I just feel like a piece of our family is gone,” said Beth. She is a therapist and, since she worked in hospice care, is no stranger to death. But the suddenness of how her aunt was taken has left her shattered.
“I just hope that her death, there’s something good that comes out of it in terms of inspiring others to be a light in the world," she said.
McGowan touched many lives: 'No interaction is insignificant'
About 375 people attended Peggy’s wake, including students from Durfee and Spencer Borden. Beth said she saw one parent teaching her young child what a wake is like and how to offer condolences. Her family was stunned at the number of people Peggy had somehow touched. Katie said they were so often distraught that she had to comfort them instead.
“The clerk at the Dollar Tree that she shopped at came. The manager at CVS where she went, she and her mother came and were in tears," Katie said. “I've got to tell you, if I ever pass, no one from the CVS I shop at is coming.”
In response to Peggy’s death, Spencer Borden Principal Eric Bradley announced that he and a group at the school are exploring the building of a permanent memorial to her. Details are still in the planning stages, he said, but could be a sign or a plaque at her corner. Katie said the community at Spencer Borden is a "special bunch."
“The fact that someone would build a memorial where she stood — that would mean everything to her," Katie said. “It somehow brings a bit of peace to what happened.
“It just signifies that no act or no interaction is insignificant.”
Dan Medeiros can be reached at dmedeiros@heraldnews.com. Support local journalism by purchasing a digital or print subscription to The Herald News today.
This article originally appeared on The Herald News: Fall River crossing guard slain in car crash; school to honor memory
