Clergy Couple Honored With Street Dedication In Gordon Heights

GORDON HEIGHTS, NY – A local clergy couple were recently honored with a street dedication by the Town of Brookhaven.

Shirley Lane in Gordon Heights was dedicated to honor Pastor Fannie Coleman and Bishop Silas Coleman last month for their volunteer and missionary work. The street dedication “recognizes their longtime affiliation with several local churches and their many years of service to the Gordon Heights community,” the town said in a statement.

Members of the Coleman family were joined by Supervisor Ed Romaine and Councilman Michael Loguercio at the Oct. 8 dedication ceremony.

Among the specific reasons the town cited for the dedication were the couple’s regular Sunday morning prayers with their congregation at the “Old Gordon Heights Park”; Fannnie’s volunteer work at Woodhaven Nursing Home, where she sang and played musical instruments for the residents and read scripture to the staff; and her visits to the Yaphank and Riverhead correctional facilities to speak to the inmates and pray for them and their families.

“Pastor Fannie and Bishop Silas Coleman were a source of strength and inspiration in the community for many years,” Romaine said in a statement. “By renaming this street in their honor, we provide a lasting memorial to the love and spirituality that they shared with the residents of Gordon Heights.”

Loguercio stated that while learning about the couple’s history and reading the community sentiments about them, one of Fannie’s family members told him “she didn’t just raise a family, she raised a community.”