What Bronx teacher Joan Hoffman remembers best about Joy Gedat, who was her best friend and a colleague at MS 80, is the delight she took in her cats, “The Wizard of Oz” — and the beach.

Gedat died of breast cancer in June at the age of 58.

Hoffman, who considered Gedat a mentor, treasures what she learned from her. “It was all about the children and the belief that learning should be connected to enjoyment,” she said.

Beth Esmaelzada, the chapter leader at MS 80, remembers Gedat joking and laughing, even when she was ill.

“She was so good-spirited, so hopeful,” Esmaelzada recalled. “She believed in enjoying life.”

Hoffman and Esmaelzada, who were walking at Orchard Beach in Gedat’s memory, were among the thousands of UFT members who participated in this year’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk in all five boroughs and at Jones Beach on Long Island on Sunday, Oct. 19 to raise funds to support breast cancer research, advocacy and patient services.

Pink — the color of breast cancer awareness — was everywhere: sweaters, T-shirts, scarves, tutus, wigs and even elaborate crowns.

The American Cancer Society sponsors the walk, and the UFT, along with its state affiliate, NYSUT, is one of the top fundraisers.

UFT Staff Director Ellie Engler, a survivor of breast cancer, cut the ribbon for the UFT walkers in Central Park.

In Brooklyn, “Team Janice” raised more than $7,000 in honor of Janice Marie Knight, a former student who became a teacher and then principal at PS 235 in East Flatbush. Knight died of the disease in 2007, and the school was named after her about two years later.

More than 100 students, teachers and parents from the school walked in her memory in Prospect Park.

Cynthia Rainbow’s 5th-grade class took the lead in organizing the school’s participation in this year’s walk. They also made pink paper hands and megaphones to carry on the walk.

“It was beautiful to see 10-year-olds in charge,” Rainbow said.

She was pleased to see parents and many former teachers from PS 235 join the school’s team this year.

“The walk brought the community together,” she said.

In Flushing Meadows Park in Queens, members of the PS/MS 164 community walked under the banner of “Team Lucie and Miss Lee.” Lucie Evens, a music teacher, lost her battle with breast cancer nearly four years ago; Byung Wan Lee, another teacher at the school, succumbed to the disease last year.

PS/MS 164 Chapter Leader Greer Hansen-Velazquez has coordinated the Queens walk for 10 years. “There were numerous teams for teachers who have been lost,” she said, noting large turnouts from Bayside, Cardozo and Queens Vocational high schools.

Hansen-Velazquez has fond memories of Lucie Evens. And like many of the walkers, those memories gave her the motivation she needed on a cold day in October to don pink and walk for the cause.

“Lucie was one of my very best friends,” she said. “Her class was next door to my class. She showed me the ropes.”