Doris Evelyn Rouse was born June 1, 1929 in Queens NY and grew up in St. Albans. In 1947 she moved with her parents to East Williston and has lived in the same home there ever since. She graduated from Hofstra University in 1950 and later obtained two Master’s Degrees from there. Doris initially planned to be a pediatrician but that was a nearly impossible task for a young woman in the 1950’s. She followed her love of children into the teaching profession and began her career as an elementary teacher in 1957 at Cross Street School in Williston Park. After 25 years, Cross Street ceased operating as a school and Doris moved to Meadow Drive School in Albertson, continuing to teach for another 25 years before retiring in 2007. She taught first grade almost exclusively for her entire 50 year career in Mineola Public Schools.

During her extensive career she guided hundreds of young students through their early childhood education, experiencing the traumatic events of the Kennedy assassinations, the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. and the horror of September 11, 2001 that impacted many elementary students who lost family members in that attack. She provided a calm and caring environment for her students. Although never becoming a mother herself, she had hundreds of children who she loved and who loved her. She was predeceased by her parents, Lawrence D. Rouse and Evelyn M. Rouse, by her brother Edward L. Rouse and her nephew Kenneth D. Rouse. She is survived by her nephew, Lawrence E. Rouse and his wife Beverley, their son Jeffrey, her goddaughter Cheryl Jaworski, her husband Joseph and their children Lee Anne Ohnstead and Scott Jaworski. Also surviving are Cheryl’s brother Bruce Hamilton, wife Judy Johnson, their children Michael and Katharine and long-time family friends Gordon Reickhoff and Donna Szczesny, who were as close as family to her.