Love of kids led Woman of the Year to community service

BARSTOW • When DeeDe Crigler brought her now-13-year-old daughter to cheerleading class through the city’s parks and recreation department nine years ago, she had little idea that it would be the beginning of a slippery slope to constant community involvement.

She was named Woman of the Year at the Barstow Area Chamber of Commerce’s 2008 annual Community Recognition Awards ceremony Saturday.

Crigler said she began volunteering as assistant coach for the cheer squad because she has never liked to sit on the sidelines.
“If I’m going to be there, I might as well get off my butt and help,” she said.

Over the past nine years, Crigler has seen some of her young charges grow from barely past the toddler stage to teenagers. Randy Crank, city recreation coordinator, said he was impressed with the way she keeps the class moving and makes sure the girls stay in line.

Crigler now heads up the parks and recreation department’s competitive cheer program, taking the young cheerleaders to tournaments throughout California and Nevada. She also acts as event coordinator for the Barstow Pageant, board member for the Kiwanis Club of Barstow, and volunteer secretary for the Mojave Valley United Way and for Barstow Youth Soccer, among numerous other activities.

Those activities are outside of her full-time work schedule as medical staff manager at Barstow Community Hospital and her role as wife, mother, and grandmother.

“She’s just everywhere, so you’d really have to be dead to not know who she is,” said Mojave Valley United Way executive director Peggy Teal.

Barstow Pageant director Kris Watson said normally volunteers are normally ready to give up the time-consuming event coordinator position after one year, but Crigler has now been doing it for more than three. When Watson went through a spell of near-burnout a few years ago, she said, Crigler stepped up to take over numerous tasks, giving Watson time to recover.

As with the cheer team, Crigler first started showing up because her daughter and now-8-year-old son had entered the children’s pageant, and she gradually got more and more involved. Out of all the causes she works for, Crigler she said her favorites are the ones that allow her to interact with kids.

“I just do what I do because I love the kids, that’s it,” she said.

Contact the writer:
(760) 256-4123 or asewell@desertdispatch.com