Quaterstaff or walking stick?

During one of our school runs with Wolfie, I noticed that one of the mothers had a walking stick with her. I say walking stick, but it was as tall as she was and truly looked more like a quaterstaff. It looked like it was made of a branch, although quite straight, with the base cut a bit like a pry bar. I wonder why she used it. She was not old, neither did she seem to have a liability. I guess walking sticks can be quite useful for trekking, but we were not exactly in the wilderness.Maybe she just had it for style. Or, another hypothesis that came to my mind, she had it for self-defence. A quaterstaff can of course make for an excellent weapon, when one knows how to use it. I thought it looked quite cool in any case. I'd like to have one for our next walk on the countryside, whenever that will happen.