Hope Takes Wing

When Richard and Sally Cryder moved here from Arizona this year, they were aghast at what seemed like daily news reports chronicling road rage, drive-by shootings and deadly traffic accidents.

To combat images of that uncaring world, people needed to practice more random acts of kindness, Cryder recalled telling his wife. So the couple started their own project to present grieving families with miniature stained-glass angels as a reminder that others wanted to help ease their pain.

Amanda Arthur, the Newport Beach student who recently woke up from a coma after a traffic accident, has received two of the glass trinkets. Relatives of a black Fresno State University student left in critical condition after a beating that police called a hate crime were surprised when they opened their mail to find Cryder’s glasswork.

And Cryder was busy Wednesday trying to contact the family of two good Samaritan sisters who were struck and killed early Sunday morning as they crossed the Pomona Freeway in East Los Angeles to help four people in an overturned sport utility vehicle.

“These little angels are tokens--only metal and glass,” Cryder said, as he sliced a piece of stained glass in his east Orange garage-studio. “But they’re symbols of faith and comfort. Others need to know that total strangers care.”

Before the Cryders moved to California, they lived for five years in Sun City, Ariz., in a neighborhood that barred children and required its residents to be at least 40 years old.

Life in Sun City, Cryder said, was relatively serene until they moved to Southern California in January. The move came when Sally Cryder was transferred to work in the corporate office of a Santa Ana company dealing in property titles.

Cryder, 50, said the couple became concerned about the crime that appeared so close to them.

Cryder, a stained glass artist who works out of his home, sells his homemade angels and other artwork to souvenir and specialty stores. The gold-plated angels retail for as much as $95 each.

At first, Cryder decided to give the glass cherubs--for free--to families of law enforcement officers slain in the line of duty.

Then, the Cryders decided that they needed to help comfort others as well.

The couple keeps a scrapbook with thank-you notes from some recipients.

Brenda Fincher--the wife of Brea Police Det. Terry Fincher, who was hit by a train and killed last May while he was looking for a weapon near railroad tracks in Fullerton as part of a criminal investigation--said Cryder’s gift could not have come at a better time.

“Terry loved his job, and he gave the ultimate sacrifice,” she said. “Our life will never be the same, but knowing he is our guardian angel keeps us going. Since his death, I have been collecting angels, so this is a perfect gift for me.”

Another grateful recipient was the mother of Malcolm Boyd, the Fresno State student who suffered a near-fatal beating last August.

“Your beautiful gesture has helped lift some of the heaviness from our hearts,” Phyllis Boyd wrote, “and I don’t doubt that the guardian angels you sent Malcolm will see him through these dark days.”

Chris Maese, mother of Amanda Arthur, said she and Amanda were touched when Cryder asked if he could name an edition of his angels after the teenager.

“This means so much to families who are hurting,” Maese said. “When he came forward it touched us because we knew that many people like him were praying for Amanda.”

Cryder said “it would hurt my feelings” when some people didn’t acknowledge his gift.

“But I realized I wasn’t doing this for me,” he said. “The feeling of sharing with a stranger means more than a thank you.”