Even dark-tinted glasses couldn’t conceal the tears that welled up in Katherine Kennedy-Boisvert’s eyes. She looked up towards the scorching sun in an attempt to hold them in, though the sun only made them more visible.
Kennedy-Boisvert was one of dozens who attended Peter Clark’s vigil on a warm but windy Sunday afternoon at the Weybridge Park in Barrhaven to commemorate the late crossing guard who was killed in a hit-and-run on March 23.
Before a single word was uttered about his life, the dozens who huddled around the park for Clark’s vigil on May 3 were a quiet testimony that spoke volumes about his character.
The community showed their love for Peter in quiet pockets during the afternoon. A young boy holding his mother’s hand who placed a bouquet of tulips among the teddy bears. Peter Clark, who was “The Smiling Crossing Guard” to the children he kept safe, smiled in the many photos of him and his wife, Amanda , placed among the hand-written notes, flowers and stuffed animals.
The wind ruffled the petals of yellow and orange tulips. But the boy’s flowers still perfectly matched Peter Clark’s crossing guard uniform colours. Yellow and orange. The melody of the soft, classical soundtrack that played in the background would, for just a few minutes, ease the heaviness of the moment.
“A lot of people here,” Amanda Clark said during her speech to the crowd shortly after the vigil started. She nervously glanced over at the crowd. “Thank you all for coming.
“My name is Amanda and I’m Peter’s wife. I want to thank each and every person who has offered me support in the last 41 days,” Amanda said, taking deep breaths between words as she tried to compose herself. “And to tell you … that your kind and generous words and actions have helped me get through some of the worst moments.”
Amanda read a letter Peter wrote to the Ottawa Safety Council on Feb. 12, 2026. Peter wanted to let his employers know that he was enjoying his morning shift at “his spot” at Kennevale and Cedarview.
“This is what he said,” she said. ” ‘I’ve gotten to recognize and able to talk to a lot of kids and parents at that spot. A lot of the pedestrians … as well. A lot of them are seniors, too. My wife and I are actually living with my father-in-law, 87, and I visit and help out my father, 86, who lives in Renfrew, quite a bit. I can understand the obstacles a senior goes through every day. Sorry for the rant … .’ ”
Amanda paused and looked up again at the crowd, who seemed to cling to her every word. “He uses the word rant when he meant ramble,” she said, and the crowd lit up for just a brief moment.
She continued: “‘I just wanted to let you know I appreciate the extra hours you’re able to give me. Thanks. Peter Clark.”
Being a crossing guard meant more to Peter than just a job. She said that living with social anxiety disorder was a challenge for him in most social interactions, but “his brief encounters with you — the members of this community — was helping him to build his confidence, and I will forever be grateful to you all.”
She invited the community to look at the shadow box that stood next to her as she spoke. She said it showed “all the other sides” of her husband.
“He loved his family, friends, animals, nature, going for long walks, sports, the Senators, Charge … swimming … and going to the movies … where he would always root for the underdog and empathize with the monsters.”
Like many who showed up at the vigil Sunday afternoon, Kennedy-Boisvert didn’t know Peter Clark personally. Yet, the vigil became a deeply personal one. That was because she knew the job.
Just like Clark, Kennedy-Boisvert is in the business of keeping others safe and smiling.
“It was just … shocking,” she told the Ottawa Citizen after the vigil, adding that the Cedarview-Kennevale intersection, where Peter Clark had worked, was known to the crossing guard community to be a “quiet” one. “It didn’t need to happen.”
Kennedy-Boisvert said she was also shocked to find out that Peter was tragically killed on School Crossing Guard Appreciation Day in Ontario, which fell on March 23 – a day after students returned from March break.
“We know the job, we know there’s risks,” said Kennedy-Boisvert, who has worked as a crossing guard for the last five years.
She urged drivers to “just slow down and pay attention” on the road.
“We’re just out there for everyone’s safety,” she said. “That’s all.”
Among those who spoke at the vigil was Rabbi Menachem Mendel Blum, the director and spiritual leader of the Ottawa Torah Centre Chabad in Barrhaven, a synagogue and Jewish educational centre right around the corner from where Peter would stand day in and day out “to offer a smile, to offer care to every child, to every family.”
Peter offered a quiet moment of care to the neighbourhood that so many had come to rely on before he was killed, Blum said. He made the neighbourhood “a little more human, a little more connected and a little more safe,” and seeing Peter wasn’t occasional. “It was daily … a familiar (and) steady presence.
“And now he is gone,” he said. “Taken from us in a way that feels sudden, painful and deeply unfair.
“Moments like these shake us and leave us with questions we cannot answer. We search for meaning and understanding. But the truth is we don’t always understand.”
Jon Allsopp, a volunteer with the St. John Ambulance and its therapy dog program, attended the vigil with is dog Amber. The therapy dog was there to ease the heaviness for people feeling the crushing weight of Peter’s loss.
“It’s important to come as a community and help support folks who have had some terrible loss,” he said. “One thing Amber can do as a therapy dog is help emotionally through tough times.
“They’re having a tough time and Amber’s able to bring a smile to their face.”
Philip Burton, who has been retired for 15 years after working in the government and is now an Orléans crossing guard, said, “The connection from one curb side to the next is a share of so many stories. And (kids) say things that they don’t even have the time to share with their own family of what happened at school.”
Burton came to Sunday’s vigil “to witness the emotion” and to let Peter Clark’s family know that they are not alone in their grief.
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