SOUTH OZONE PARK — Diego Arellano was a student in Camille Ferraro’s second-grade class at St. Mary Gate of Heaven Catholic Academy in South Ozone Park in 2004, and even though 20 years have passed, he still holds onto a life lesson she taught him.

After Ferraro’s mother had taken a bad fall that left her a paraplegic, the teacher explained to her class of seven-year-olds that she would be taking time off from work to take care of her.

“I remember that vividly because I remember her explaining to us the situation, and I had an understanding at that young age that your parents took care of you but that you would have to take care of your parents someday,” Arellano said.

“There is nobody else in my life who has taught me more about the respect that you need to have for your parents,” he added.

Arellano was one of dozens of people who gathered on Oct. 26 outside the former academy, which closed in 2020, on the corner of 101st Avenue and 104th Street for a street co-naming ceremony in honor of Ferraro. 

Ferraro, who was 66, passed away a few weeks after she announced her retirement and shortly after the academy closed.

The street corner now bears a sign reading “Camille Ferraro Way,” after the educator who taught at the school for 45 years. 

In addition to teaching second grade, Ferraro prepared her students for the sacrament of holy Communion. “They used to call her the ‘Queen of Communion,’ ” her brother, Mark Ferraro, recalled.

He joined local officials, including City Councilwoman Joann Ariola, who sponsored the street co-naming bill, to unveil the new sign.

“To see my sister’s memory honored in this way is just tremendous,” Mark said.

Camille, who never married or had children, considered her students to be her children, according to her brother, who added that she immediately fell in love with her job teaching at St. Mary Gate of Heaven in 1975. 

“She treated the kids with love. And she took them seriously,” Mark said. “She never talked down to them.”

He said Camille would bake cookies and bring them to school for the kids, and on the last day of school before Christmas break, she would come home with gifts from her students’ parents. 

“It’s a nice memory that I have,” Mark said. “Us sitting on the couch emptying the shopping bags to see what gifts Camille got that year.”

Her relationship with students lasted beyond second grade. “A lot of the kids, years after they graduated from Mary Gate of Heaven, would go back to say hello to her and to talk to her about their lives,” he added.

Arellano, now 27, said he had many great conversations with her. 

“We would always make an effort to catch up. She always made it a point to stop and talk and see how we were doing and what we were up to,” Arellano recalled. “And always told us she was proud of us.”

Arellano’s sister Martha, 31, who had Camille as a teacher in 2000, spoke at the ceremony, recalling how the teacher trained the students for first Communion by practicing with vanilla wafers. She also recalled how Camille gave her a bookmark for her eighth birthday, which she still has. 

“I loved her from the moment I walked into the second-grade classroom in September of 2000, and I love her still,” Martha explained. “We all understood just how important her work was. We knew how precious her mission was, how extraordinary her calling was to be a teacher.”

The Ferraros lived in South Ozone Park and attended Mass at St. Anthony of Padua Church, where the children attended the parish school. 

“When my sister was little, she told her best friend she was going to be a teacher,”  Mark said. “I think her desire for teaching came out of her devotion to her faith.”

Camille graduated from The Mary Louis Academy and earned a degree in education from St. John’s University. After college, she walked into St. Mary Gate of Heaven in 1975 and taught there for the next 45 years. 

However, after putting in her retirement papers, she fell ill toward the end of the 2019-2020 school year. She died on July 11, 2020.

“She was a big part of the Mary Gate of Heaven community,” Mark said, “People still tell me how much they miss her.”