The kids knew him as Mr. Bob.
He was there to greet them when they went to school in the morning and when they left in the afternoon, standing in the middle of Leavenworth Road with a stop sign in his hand and a supply of Russell Stover peppermints in his pocket.
For Valentine’s Day last week, the kids brought the 88-year-old crossing guard mugs full of candy and made him a card, and for Christmas one year he gave some of them presents.
But on Tuesday morning, the children at Christ the King Catholic School in Kansas City, Kan., saw Bob Nill for the last time.
It was about five minutes before 8 a.m., five minutes until the first bell rang and Nill’s job ushering kids through the crosswalk would be over for the morning. Two young boys, in third and fifth grade, had just stepped off the curb.
But just then, Nill motioned for them to step back, said school principal Cathy Fithian. He saw a black sedan speeding toward them. He could sense that it wasn’t stopping or slowing, despite Nill’s big red sign and the school zone’s flashing yellow lights.
Nill held his position in the middle of the road, which is where the car struck and killed him.
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