Dorothy C. Buonocore

She was also a member of the Rockland County Catholic Choir. Each year, at Christmas, the group tried to think of something unique to give the director, George Bryant. One year, Dorothy came up with the idea of creating a music scholarship in his name. She contacted the Rockland Music Teachers Association - they loved the idea and to this day, music students are benefiting from the George Bryant Scholarship.

She loved her country. If asked what her ancestry was, she would always say, “I am an American.” She would always pray for the country and the president, no matter who was in office.

For more than 40 years she washed and ironed church linens, changed candles and helped to decorate the alters during Christmas and Easter at both Annunciation Church in Crestwood, NY and St. Augustine’s Parish in New City, NY.

When her good friend, Marcy Aiston, became ill and could no longer attend mass, Dorothy asked for and received permission to bring Communion to Marcy. She was proud to tell people that she was the very first, albeit, unofficial, Eucharistic minister at St Augustine’s church.

Dorothy loved to read and loved books. She volunteered at the PS 8 library in Yonkers, NY, the St. Augustine’s Library in New City, NY, and the New City Public Library. She later moved to a paying job at the Nyack Public Library at the young age of 65! She dearly loved that job and all the wonderful people with whom she worked.

She had the gift of the gab. She loved talking to everyone she met. She would make friends with people she met on the bus ride to work or those who came into the library. She had an Irish wit and you had better be quick to keep up with her banter! Oh, the stories we could tell!

She loved her family and she loved New York but I think we’d all agree she loved Brooklyn more than anything else because Brooklyn meant home and family and joy and love. She would always ask, “How’s my neighborhood? How’s my Brooklyn?” She would recount stories of walking in downtown Brooklyn with her father, walks over the Brooklyn Bridge and going to school at St. James on Jay Street. With her passing, a little bit of old NY has gone to heaven.

Dorothy always said success shouldn’t be measured by wealth or power but by how you treat others. She strove to treat others with respect, dignity and a wonderful sense of humor. Congratulations on a life well lived!