For years, Richie Henderson helped the children of Avenues The World School cross the street. For years, he cared for them like he cared for his own family. And when tragedy struck, that huge extended family did the same for him and his loved ones. A newspaper feature that embodies the best of the genre: sadness, hope, and a feeling that humans still look out for one another.
In the summer of 2023, the school honored Henderson’s contribution by making him a staff employee, something they had never done for a crossing guard before. He’d no longer work as a subcontractor. He would have a benefits package, including health care, a retirement plan and a life insurance policy.
“They gave him his roses,” Dockery said of Henderson’s status as a staff member.
She said her husband, imposing at more than 6 feet tall and more than 200 pounds, could be stern and demanding of his own children, but never with the kids at Avenues.
“Those kids, that school, they got the best of Richie,” she said with pride and not regret.
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