LEWISTON – In front of Pettingill Elementary School, crossing guard Muriel Bishop was the last one to say goodbye.

“Oh, here they come,” she said as kids rushed toward her from the old brick building at 3 p.m. Friday, the last day of school in Lewiston. “Bye, Eric. Bye, Tyler! See you in the fall.”

For the last 11 years, Bishop, 73, has helped Pettingill’s children and their parents cross the street every morning and afternoon. From her place on College Street, she has watched the neighborhood grow up.

During the school year, Bishop has listened to enthusiastic tales of new puppies and new baby brothers, good teachers and bad grades. She has jumped into the middle of the busy street to safeguard her kids. She has waited on the sidewalk with a lonely child until someone came to pick up the child.

On the last day of school, both kids and parents stopped to say thank-you. In the morning there were gifts. In the afternoon there were hugs.

“I love her to pieces,” said Karen Haskell just before her 11-year-old son gave Bishop a hug. “She takes good care of the kids.”

One grinning 12-year-old brought her camera and asked for a picture.

“I see her every morning and stuff. And now I’m leaving this school,” said Veronica Irish, who graduated from sixth grade Friday morning but walked back to school that afternoon just to get a photo. “I’ll miss that she was always there to talk to.”

It’s a dedication that runs in the Bishop family. Across town on Friday, her husband, Ed, kept his own post at Farwell Elementary School. A crossing guard for 15 years, he has spent only a month at a crossing in front of Farwell, but he already knows his kids.

“We love the job, love the kids,” said Ed Bishop, 76, who shares high fives with two young brothers every day. “It keeps you young.”

He took a crossing guard job after retiring from a paper mill. She joined a few years later after retiring from the Knapp Shoe Mill in Lewiston.

Married for 52 years, the couple has three children, two grandchildren and one great-grandson. But they feel, they said, like Pettingill and Farwell are family, too.

“We feel like grandparents of these kids,” she said.

By 3:15 Friday, the chaos at Pettingill was over. The custodian had taken away the “pedestrian crossing” sign that stood in the crosswalk throughout the school year. The students had gone.

Teacher Tammy Randall drove to work, but stopped by the crosswalk just for a hug.

“Mrs. Bishop, darling, I would not leave without saying goodbye to you,” said Randall.

She was the last.

It was a bittersweet day for Bishop. The last day of school always is.

Bishop and her husband will spend the summer visiting family and vacationing. They look forward to it every year.

But by fall, they’ll be back.

“By the end of summer, we’ll be ready,” she said.

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