Her son gave the last measure of devotion as a U.S. Marine when he was killed in combat in Vietnam. And Farmingdale’s Dorothy Oxendine showed devotion to other families whose service-member children were killed or missing in action, as the national president of American Gold Star Mothers.

She continued to honor those service members well into her 80s, when she was instrumental in creating a memorial garden at the Long Island National Cemetery, Pinelawn, in 2008. And, said her longtime friend Air Force veteran Haze Gal, of upstate Ulster County, "She volunteered thousands of hours at the VA hospital in Northport.

"Her dedication was a way to fill a void," said her daughter Barbara Oxendine Ezzo, of Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. "Losing her first and only son was heartbreaking."

Yet Oxend

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