Chestene M. Coverdale

Chestene Coverdale, 82, of Bayport, LI, died on Wednesday, October 3, 2018, of complications from a stroke she had at the end of July.  The youngest of 12 children, Chestene was born in Westover, Maryland into a sharecropper family.  From very humble beginnings, Chestene went on to graduate from Delaware State College where she met her future husband Fred Coverdale. They moved to Long Island when she was recruited by the Middle Country School District to teach physical education and health.  Coverdale taught several years in Middle Country, 12 years in Center Moriches and later worked as a sixth-grade teacher in Mount Sinai for 14 years until she retired in 1991. Her husband had a 30-year career in Bayport-Blue Point, rising to high school principal and assistant superintendent.

In 1991, Mrs. Coverdale founded the Greater Sayville Food Pantry, located in the historic Gillette House just below Main Street and worked unpaid until stricken. She was also active in many other community groups, including stints as Sayville Rotary president, a Brookhaven Memorial Hospital advisory board member and supervising student teachers for Dowling College.

Mrs. Coverdale is survived by her son, John and his wife Sherri of Blue Point, her daughter, Terri of Patchogue, four grandchildren, Karli, Clarissa, Eric and Brittany, a great-granddaughter, Arlen, as well as two siblings, Lester Ballard and Isabelle Walker, both of Maryland.  She was predeceased by her husband, Fred in 2013.

Friends and relatives gathered on Sunday, October 7that Raynor & D'Andrea Funeral Home in West Sayville.  A private cremation followed.