During a monstrous storm in late January of 2024, crossing guards guide pedestrian traffic while rain inundates Coronado.
Wearing reflective safety vests, they step onto the street and hold a stop paddle to halt oncoming cars, ensuring the safety of children walking to and from school.
“You cannot use an umbrella if you’re a crossing guard,” explains Coronado resident Barry Thurman. “You stand there and you take it.”
Thurman said he and the late Celia Diaz experienced rainstorms like these and 92-degree heat in their approximately five years of working together as crossing guards.
People closest to Diaz, who lived in Imperial Beach, and community members she interacted with remember her selfless character and her kind way of being.
According to Thurman, Diaz worked at two intersections between the schools, beginning at G Avenue and Sixth Street in the mornings and then F Avenue and Sixth Street, between the middle and high school.
“It was all about family, whether it was her biological family or whether it was her crossing guard family,” said Thurman. “I can’t believe that she’s gone. But she enhanced your life. It’s the kind of people you thank the good Lord for putting in your life.”
At the age of 64, Diaz passed away on Feb. 24 after fighting cancer.
“We’re all taking it day-by-day,” said Michael Cummings, Diaz’s son. “It’s been hard for everybody.”
Michael received Diaz’s ashes on March 20. His dad, William, said he wanted to invite the people of Coronado, who meant so much to her, to a celebration of life planned for late March or early April.
“She would always find the goodness of people and she always tried to make everybody happy,” said the younger Cummings. “Nobody’s ever said a bad thing about my mother and it makes me proud to be her son.”
A giving person
Michael said he enjoyed hearing all about his mom’s day including the dogs she met. Outside of work, she spent her time with multiple grandkids.
Cummings said his mother was born on March 1, 1961, in Culiacán, Sinaloa. Diaz was a young girl when her family moved to Calexico, a southern city in Imperial County where her father figure worked the fields and she eventually attended Calexico High School.
Cummings said he remembers his mother was always taking care of him and his friends.
“Growing up, I noticed she would always put everybody ahead of her,” said Cummings. “Which I love about her and I do that as well. I try to, at least, but my mom would do it without thinking.”
Diaz called Michael “Cielo” (a term of endearment in Spanish), said Josephine, his grandmother.
According to Thurman, Diaz began working as a crossing guard in Coronado on Nov. 18, 2020. Michael said when she got there, she loved it.
“She was always hard working,” said Michael. “She would tell me every day about all the kids she would see and how she liked making all the kids smile when they walked by.”
Diaz was diagnosed with stage three liver cancer in August. Cummings said his mother had to step away from her job last fall due to treatments.
“She was saying that she wanted to go back, that she missed it,” said Cummings. “So she was planning on going back eventually, just waiting for the right time and trying to beat cancer.”
After a six month battle, Diaz passed days before her birthday, which she shared with her fraternal twin brother named Jose.
“She was the love of my life,” said William who spent over 30 years with Diaz after meeting at a furniture store in San Diego in their late 20s. “I’m going through a lot right now, I gotta be strong.”
According to William, Diaz’s saying was “Don’t sweat the little stuff.”
Josephine said she remembers Diaz going the extra mile to care for her and William, both of whom she lived with, and never complained about anything.
“We miss her a big deal, we miss her just being here,” said Josephine. “I don’t think God put her here for nothing. He put her here for a purpose and that was to help people… She was just like that.”
Spreading kindness
One block away from each other on Sixth Street, at approximately 7:40 a.m., Thurman and Diaz would wave their stop paddle three times up and down.
“This was our hello to each other each morning,” explained Thurman. “That was always our connection.”
Thurman said the first day he worked with Celia he called back to the office and said, “‘You hit a home run, you knocked it out of the park with this lady.’”
Thurman has lived in Coronado since 1969 and is in his seventh year as a crossing guard. He said it takes commitment, love and everything one has got to give to work as a crossing guard.
“Whatever the challenge is for the day, it’s not about me. It’s about (the kids),” said Thurman. “And Celia felt the same way.”
Thurman says people remember Diaz by her smile, her wave and her warmth.
Alba Sanchez, a Coronado parent, said she would bring Diaz homemade soups and described her as being friendly with everyone.
“She always was caring about all the kids,” said Sanchez. “Always, with a big smile.”
Coronado resident William Nessen said he developed a friendship with Diaz and would speak with her on a frequent basis in the days he would walk by.
“She was part of my day and she made it better,” said Nessen who exchanged life updates with Diaz. “Just as she was there to protect the children, I felt she was sort of helping me or protecting me in some way from all the things that were going on in my life … I looked forward to stopping and chatting.”
Imperial Beach resident Charlotte Sullivan, another crossing guard in Coronado, said people ask about Diaz all the time.
“She had that personality that, you know, she could talk to the kids, and we worked well together. She was a great lady, I’m gonna miss her,” said Sullivan.
Coronado Middle School students Marlow Vindelob and Keona Abe said they remember Diaz handing out candy on Halloween.
“She was really kind to the people crossing,” said Vindelob. “It inspired me to be more kind to people and… just have a kind attitude.”
Last year, the Coronado Unified School District recognized Diaz, Thurman, Sullivan and three other crossing guards.
“We’re really going to miss her kind spirit and her love for the students,” said Coronado Middle School Principal Brooke Falar.
