GREEN BAY (NBC26) — Family and friends of Judy Cisler, the 82-year-old woman struck and killed by a car on Valentine's Day, are raising money and awareness for new crosswalks in Green Bay.
- Cisler's family and friends want to honor her memory by making Green Bay streets safer by adding an RRFB, or rapid rectangular flashing beacon
- Dana Beining organized the GoFundMe campaign to build an additional crosswalk in the city and to construct a memorial for Judy
- The city alderman in the area, Bill Galvin, said the intersection was identified as in need of a crosswalk during a 2019 safe routes study, but the city has yet to decide a bid to build it
- Video shows the intersection in question and photos of Judy from her family
(The following is a transcription of the full broadcast story)
An update after a tragedy on Valentine's Day.
We told you about an 82-year old wife and mother who was killed here at this intersection after a car hit her and her husband after they had dinner. Now their family is trying to save others and we have more on what they're doing in her memory.
Judy Cisler was the quintessential grandma.
"You couldn't meet Judy without falling in love with her smile, her laugh," Dana Beining said. "And she always had a cookie. She fed everybody. She was that kind of grandma."
Judy died while crossing Bellevue Street after Valentine's Day dinner.
"We were shocked," Beining said.
Now Dana, whose son plans to marry Judy's granddaughter, is setting up a GoFundMe to prevent future tragedies.
"We're trying to take a tragic event, and put some sort of a positive spin on it, do something positive in her memory," Beining said.
She believes there should be a crosswalk at Bellevue and Cass Streets.
Judy's daughter Sue Spielvogel agrees, telling NBC26: "Our family believes a crosswalk is absolutely needed for the safety of the community. We are unable to comment any further."
Dana hopes the GoFundMe will speed along the process of building crosswalks and flashing signs in Green Bay — a process that alderman Bill Galvin says has been in the works since 2019.
"When I heard this accident, I knew immediately that that was one location that was supposed to be having one put up," Galvin said. "And that's why it was just so disappointing that we haven't been able to get it going sooner."
Galvin says the city is trying to fund and build new crosswalks in dozens of locations.
"As soon as the bids come in and we can get it rolling, there's going to be one up there," Galvin said. "It's just not soon enough."
Judy's family also hopes to add some sort of memorial at the intersection.
"She loved her family, she was a force to be reckoned with, and we're doing something positive to make a difference for Judy," Beining said.
Dana is hoping to raise $22,000 dollars on the GoFundMe, which is the cost of an installing a new RRFB — or pedestrian crossing lights — for the city.
