WATERTOWN â Perhaps the driving factor for why Robert A. Irvine continues to work as a crossing guard at 85 years old is because his late wife inspired him after they did it for so long just blocks from each other.
Mr. Irvine was married for 58 years to his wife Shirley. They were friends before dating, and he just called her one day. It all worked out from there, as he puts it.
Shirley was a crossing guard at the corner of Lansing and Hoard streets, while Mr. Irvine coordinated the mail at the New York Air Brake Corporation on Starbuck Avenue. They had children together, then got to meet their grandchildren, and he worked the mail for 36 years.