Council Member Shaun Abreu’s office
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An Upper West Side intersection now carries the name of a woman who spent more than three decades making sure neighborhood kids got to school safely.
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Council Member Shaun Abreu hosted a street co-naming ceremony on Tuesday at the southwest corner of West 105th Street and Amsterdam Avenue — right near P.S. 145 and West Prep Academy — officially designating the corner as Ethel Deas Way.Council Member Shaun Abreu’s office
Deas served as a crossing guard at the intersection for 33 of her 36 years in the role, greeting students and families with a smile every morning until her passing in 2021.
“For 33 years, Ethel Deas made sure that every child crossed the street safely at West 105th Street and Amsterdam Ave,” Abreu wrote on social media. “It’s an honor to co-name that corner after her, and her presence will be felt by generations to come.”
Born in Charleston, South Carolina, Deas moved to the Upper West Side in 1958 with her husband Julius, a U.S. Army servicemember. The couple raised eight children and lived for decades in the Frederick Douglass Houses, where Deas remained until her death.
Beyond the crosswalk, Deas was also an ordained minister and bishop.
Family members who spoke at the ceremony described her as someone who saw the value and humanity in every single person — especially those who are often overlooked.
Her granddaughter spoke about Deas’s vocational approach to the crossing guard role, describing how she was committed to teaching kids to cross the street safely so they could go on to have full lives.
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Stephanie Ruskay, a candidate for State Assembly in the 69th District, attended the ceremony and shared her reflections on Instagram.“Her son told me she was also an ordained minister who helped many people throughout her life,” Ruskay wrote. “She was launching them.”
The corner of West 105th Street and Amsterdam Avenue will now permanently carry Deas’s name.
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