CORONA — The longtime president of the 110th Precinct community council died Saturday, friends and the NYPD said.
Evelyn DeCoursey spent nearly a decade volunteering as the council's president, organizing fundraisers, celebrating the precinct's officers and taking feedback from the community.
"She really was the community council, she was the spirit of the community council," Deputy Inspector Christopher Manson from the precinct said. "She was always concerned about the cops in the precinct, she always had good ideas."
DeCoursey had spent the last year in and out of hospitals recovering from a broken jaw after falling at Booth Memorial Hospital, where she also spent time volunteering, friends said. She fought back many times, regaining her strength, but was recently diagnosed with cancer.
"She's going to be very missed," Manson said.
Evelyn DeCoursey, center, with members of the Corona and Elmhurst communities in March 2015. (DNAinfo/Katie Honan)
Inspector Ronald Leyson, the former commanding officer of the 110th Precinct, said she was "a wonderful woman, a very giving woman," who was a big supporter of the NYPD.
"She was a great contributor to the community," he said. She organized the Sept. 11 memorial services at the community council meetings and the annual fundraiser at the Grandstand restaurant and bar, he said.
DeCoursey is preceded in death by her husband and two sons, Leyson said, and she made her neighbors her family.
"She had her Corona family," he said. "She was just a good soul."
Her wake will be held Tuesday, Aug. 23 at the Leo F. Kearns Funeral Home, 61-40 Woodhaven Blvd, from 2 until 4 p.m. and again from 7 to 9 p.m. Her funeral will be held Wednesday, Aug. 24 at Resurrection Ascension Church, 85-25 61st Rd. in Middle Village.
