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Sarasota News Leader December 27, 2013 Page 85 and Gov. Rick Scott sent her a letter. Stallings left of her front door is stocked with small wished "safe crossings" to all her fellow cross- Oriental sculptures and knick-knacks. She ing guards. picks up items at estate sales and browses Nicki Whitehead, the Police Department's Gump's catalogue for treasures. crossing guard coordinator, became good friends with Stallings over the years, and even traveled with her to Alaska to visit one of Stallings' daughters. Whitehead went by the nickname "Kodiak" during the trip; Stallings was "Polar Bear." Does she suggest becoming a crossing guard to others? "I'd recommend it for the right person," she says. "You'd have to like kids, you'd have to have a lot of free time that you could waste, and you'd just need something to do. I wouldn't recommend it for a lifetime thing, Since retiring, Stallings has traveled to let me tell you." Colorado, and she spends her time antiquing — "junking," as she calls it. Almost every hor- The pay may have gone up some since the izontal surface in her home holds some type days of $30 weeks, but it's still nothing glamof small figurine, and a glass case just to the orous. "You'd starve." % The intersection of South Osprey Avenue and Webber Street was Barbara Stallings' last posting as a crossing guard for Southside Elementary School. Photo by Norman Schimmel. Inset courtesy Google Maps.