BETHLEHEM, Pa. — When it isn't raining, Thomas Jefferson Elementary School students crossing the busy intersection at Pembroke Road and Maple Street in northeast Bethlehem find themselves escorted by two special ladies.
And one of them is the four-legged kind.
Missy is a 3-year-old Cairn terrier and registered emotional support dog who helps her owner, Bethlehem crossing guard Joanne Odenheimer, move students and parents safely through the crosswalk before and after school each week.
“I got her during COVID,” Odenheimer, a retired paralegal, said Wednesday morning from her post, “after losing eight people very close to me during the shut-down,” including both of her parents.
“It’s so hard to watch your parents take their last breath,” she said, keeping an eye on the intersection.
Next to her on the sidewalk, in her own official orange reflective vest, stood Missy, securely leashed. She also seemed to be on the clock, looking back and forth as cars whizzed by.
'I knew I needed this little dog'
Odenheimer said she fell into a deep depression as she said goodbye to her loved ones, one after another, in a matter of months during the coronavirus shutdown in 2020.
“My mother was never sick," she said. "Then she got pneumonia. Two weeks later, COVID hit, and everything stopped.
"When my mother died soon after, it was never diagnosed, but it had to be COVID."
She said her mother died in her arms.
"I needed something," she said. "I really did. I knew I needed this little dog."
"She was exactly what I wanted: A female, light-colored Cairn terrier."Crossing guard Joann Odenheimer
Odenheimer and her husband put their COVID government relief checks together and went to a puppy store on Union Boulevard that's no longer in business.
"She was exactly what I wanted: A female, light-colored Cairn terrier," Odenheimer said.
Missy has a cream-colored, slightly wiry topcoat and very soft peach-toned undercoat. Her little wiggling torso invites anyone to pet her.
Even her expression seems sweet, comforting, accepting.
'She loves the dog so much'
At the corner, a little girl approaching in the distance spied the pup up ahead.
"Missy!" cried 8-year-old Aaliyah, who ran a few steps up the sidewalk ahead of her mother, Joana Ramos, who accompanies her daughter to school.
The girl's amorous greeting was returned with a quiet enthusiasm, a bundle of wags, perhaps even a little lick on the face. Hard to tell with all the friendly smothering going on.
"Some days I have to pull her away to cross, she loves the dog so much," Joana Ramos said of her daughter.
Seeming to anticipate her person's "here we go" tug on the long orange leash, Missy stepped out ahead of the mother-daughter duo as Odenheimer held out the bold, red stop sign.
Trotting with her, Missy turned her head to make eye contact with Odenheimer, then to the girl and her mother. It was as if she were saying, "Go ahead, the coast is clear."
On her way back to her post, Missy turned around and watched her subjects until they made it to the curb and proceeded on.
A minute later, along came kindergartener Yasmina with her mother. The girl smiled widely and cuddled Missy, who didn't seem to mind a bit.
Then it was business as usual for the duo. Stop sign? Check. Looking both ways? Check. Safe crossing for Yasmina and her mom? Check!
Missy did that for each group of children who approached and crossed. It was as if she knew how serious her job was, protecting the young pedestrians from halted traffic, but with a gentle demeanor.
Going to miss them
Missy is named for the way people in the South speak to women, as “Miss so-and-so,” said Odenheimer, who lived in Florida for a time and took note of how people addressed girls and ladies.
When they're not on duty, Odenheimer said, she takes Missy out on a run to keep the terrier content.
"This breed was born for adventure," she said, laughing. "They live for danger. I can’t take my eyes off of her. She’ll just go looking for things to get into.
"She's already taken her first swim of the season. She just jumped right into the Monocacy Canal. She loves to swim. I can never let her off-leash. She just goes where she wants."
The students showed Missy and Odenheimer their gratitude at the holidays with a large card and a stocking full of new toys and Milk-Bone treats.
"I’ll miss the kids. But, you know, I’m used to getting up and going. I’ve done it all my life. Here I go again."Crossing guard Joann Odenheimer
Odenheimer said she loves seeing the kids and families and has gotten to know them in the nearly two years she's been at the location.
She said going to miss them — she and her husband are moving to Fogelsville now that her landlord needs to rent her apartment to family.
It also happens to be more convenient for her husband's job.
Odenheimer said she probably won't look for another crossing guard position, but instead plans to keep herself — and Missy — busy "doing retirement things."
"I’ll miss the kids," she said. "But, you know, I’m used to getting up and going.
"I’ve done it all my life. Here I go again."
During lulls between human activity, Missy relaxed on a plush cream blanket in her little black doggy stroller, watching cars go by and micro-napping.
Her senses weren't completely turned off, though.
A bigger brown dog walked with a couple across the opposite corner.
Missy perked right up and barked her bossy best, letting everyone know there's only room for one canine crossing guard on this corner.
