
Birthday parade celebrates Freeport resident's recovery from coronavirus

Longtime Freeport resident Carolyn DeVore is the type of educator and leader who always put others first, her friends and family said, so they planned a birthday parade Sunday to mark her successful battle against COVID-19.
DeVore, 67, was cleared by her doctor just days ago and was surprised Sunday to find news crews and those that love her as well as the Freeport Fire Department outside her home marking the occasion with honking horns and waving signs in a car parade. There were family members, friends and her students as well.
"I was in shock. I couldn't believe it," DeVore said. "I was so surprised and it was so many people."
DeVore is a retired dean for the New York City Board of Education and worked at Benjamin N. Cardozo High School in Bayside until she retired in 2013, but she returned part time to the school as a dean again in 2015 "to help with the kids who are problematic," she said. She has worked at the school since 1986.
"And even though I am a strict disciplinarian, the kids know I love them," she said. "I miss my kids so much. So many of them are suffering and I am praying for God … for us to get back to the new norm. "
In addition, she owns a dance school in Queens called DeVore Dance Studio and has continued to pay her staff out of her own pocket even though she was forced to shut down due to the coronavirus. She has run that business for nearly 30 years.
"We wanted to do something special for her because she does so much for kids," said family friend, Veronika Crater, 52, of Copiague. "It speaks to her character she has gone out of her way to make sure that her staff and her kids were ok."
Her sister, Theresa Scott of Queens, helped organize Sunday's effort.
DeVore was diagnosed on March 15 and was treated at home. She said she never felt anything like it before in her life.
"I couldn't believe how sick I was. You can't breathe, everything is sore. You are so weak," she said. "I am still afraid. There is still so much they don't know about this virus."
Sunday, she was planning to check on her 91-year-old mother, Dorris Patterson, in Queens, when her family told her to stay put. She opened her front door and couldn't believe what she was seeing as the parade went by with cars and dozens of well-wishers holding balloons and signs in her honor.
"I am standing there and saying 'Oh my goodness,'' she said. "I just started crying."