A South Philly street was named for a beloved school crossing guard. Welcome to Gerri Graves Way.

Gerri Graves was a South Philadelphia fixture, the kind of neighbor who showed up when it mattered, registering her neighbors to vote, distributing food to those in need, fighting to save a school that anchored her community.

After a career working for the Internal Revenue Service in Philadelphia, she spent more than a decade as the crossing guard who stood outside that school, E.M. Stanton Elementary, making sure children got to class safely, waving to people, offering a warm smile.

The spot was already Graves’, defined by her love and her life of service. So it was fitting that on Friday, dignitaries, children, neighbors, and Graves’ family gathered to officially name the 900 block of South 17th Street “Geraldine Graves Way.” People told stories about Graves, wiped tears, and laughed; two friends sang an original song they composed about her life and legacy.

Graves, a longtime Point Breeze resident, died in 2021 at age 66.

State Rep. Jordan Harris (D., Philadelphia) was Graves’ neighbor and friend, so in Graves’ book, that made him family, privy to her hugs and stories about her “$6 million babies,” the seven grandchildren she adored.

“I don’t care how your day was going, when you saw her, you just felt like something was always going to be all right,” said Harris.

After her morning crossing guard shifts, Graves walked right into Stanton’s main office and took her place next to Patti Sheridan, Stanton’s secretary. Philadelphia school budgets are tight, and Graves knew Sheridan could use a hand, so there she was, pitching in without salary or expectation of thanks.

“She understood that small acts of kindness could create a ripple effect, and she lived that belief every day,” Sheridan said.

Al’liyonna Lowery-Brown, a Stanton student and president of the school’s student government, said Graves was a beloved figure for her and her peers. “Just seeing her face first thing in the morning when we came to school uplifted our spirits,” Al’liyonna said.

Graves was a crossing guard, but also a social worker, a nurse, a grandma to everyone, said Al’liyonna. Sure, Graves had “some choice words when we were doing what we shouldn’t have been doing,” Al’liyonna said, but kids respected that, and remembered how she chaperoned school events and relished Stanton’s annual Black history show at the Philadelphia Clef Club, where she brought enthusiasm and refreshments and “served swag” with her impeccable dress.

“Gerri was a top-tier human being — she was kind, she was genuine, she was funny, she was honest, she was fiercely protective, and she had a knack for making people feel safe and special,” said Jill Anastasi Scott, parent of two former Stanton students and a founder of the Stanton Community Partners, a school boosters group.

When SEPTA employees went on strike in 2016, the Stanton community mobilized to make sure employees had a way to get to work. Principal Stacey Burnley picked up Graves, and the rides lasted years after the strike ended. The two women talked as friends, as mothers, as people who valued education.

It feels like Graves still sits beside Burnley, she said; her friend “shaped my leadership, but also my understanding of what it means to support a school community.”

Graves’ friend Nadine Davis still runs into people whose lives Graves affected — a colleague who remembers her from a long-ago job, a woman Graves bought a hot plate for after learning the woman had escaped an abusive relationship and was living in a small room with two children and no way to make them food.

“She played a very big part in South Philly,” said Davis.

When officials proposed closing Stanton in 2011, Graves, whose grandchildren attended the K-8 school at 17th and Christian, stood firm. She was a leader of a group of neighbors who banded together and met weekly to strategize ways to save the school, a feat they ultimately pulled off.

Graves told leaders “they will not shut down our school,” said City Council President Kenyatta Johnson, who became a friend. “They said, ‘We see the vitality of the educational program taking place.’”

Johnson remembers one tough day early in his political career when he passed Graves in her crossing guard uniform, standing sentry, not just offering students safety but also remembering their birthdays, offering encouragement, laughing with them. She offered Johnson her trademark smile.

“She said, ‘Baby, you’re going to be all right,’” said Johnson. “She was a beautiful spirit.”