Sister Dorothy Cook, O.P., a member of the Sisters of St. Dominic, Amityville, for 79 years, died Aug. 24. She was 97.
Born in Brooklyn, she entered the Novitiate at Queen of the Rosary Motherhouse from St. Saviour parish, Park Slope, in 1938. On Aug. 7, 1939, she received the habit and took her religious name Sister M. Doretta. She pronounced her vows on Aug. 17, 1940.
She taught at St. Joseph’s, Astoria, 1940-48; Dominican Commercial H.S., Jamaica; All Saints H.S., Williamsburg; and St. Francis of Assisi, Astoria, 1950-58.
She attended St. John’s University and then earned her master’s from Hunter College. She was then assigned to St. Peter’s School, Monticello, N.Y., where she was principal and was often called upon also to teach, from 1958 to 1967. She then became principal at Corpus Christi, Mineola, L.I., 1967-70.
She then taught at Holy Family School, Fresh Meadows, 1970-74, before joining the pastoral staff at Our Lady of Mercy parish, Forest Hills, for four years. She taught at Incarnation, Queens Village, 1978-83. From 1983 until 1990, she cared for her sick sister before returning to Incarnation until 2000, when she retired.
She most recently lived at Maria Regina Residence, Brentwood.
Interment was at the Sisters’ cemetery in Amityville.
I was in Sister Mary Doretta’s 6th,7th and 8th grade class of 1956 at St Francis. Not being her best student, she got me a tutor & pushed me to learn. I made the Honor Roll at graduation ! She has been an inspiration to me for over 62 yrs. What a blessing it was to see her at the 1994 reunion. With her death, I now have another saint to pray to (sister wouldn’t like that sentence!) God Bless her soul, Amen.