She’ll be missed

Friends and colleagues of Ernestine Small, the executive director of the Rockville Centre/Lakeview Economic Opportunity Council, who stepped down in September after 37 years with the agency, threw a retirement party for her last Sunday afternoon at the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center on N. Centre Avenue. As director of the EOC, Small oversaw the agency’s efforts to help residents in need with assistance that included welfare counseling, legal aid, immigration advice and childhood development services. A Rockville Centre native who graduated from South Side High School, Small told the Herald that she is not the type to spend her time idly during her retirement. “I’m almost sure I’ll do some volunteering somewhere,” she said. “There’s always something to do.”