Mrs. Innocenza Acocella
When I called Mrs. Innocenza Acocella she said she had just been on the phone with a cousin from Florida who called to wish her happy birthday, she turned 90 yesterday. She said “she is never going to forget this birthday.”
I asked her if in 90 years she has ever experienced anything like COVID-19, she said never, the only thing that would come close was 911. She said her mother was 8 years old during the 1918 Pandemic Influenza. Mrs. Acocella feels that if they made it through that with no technology, we can make it through this, and that is what she is telling people.
She said the depression was hard, her family lived with her Grandfather who had a steady job, her father was a laborer who had difficulty finding steady work. Her family was very close and she felt very lucky because she had her own Shirley Temple doll. She has wonderful memories of growing up in a big extended Italian family with a lot of love. She has lived on the block she is on now for 70 years.
Mrs. Acocella worked in the kitchen at New Rochelle HS well into her 80's. The only reason she stopped was after not feeling well they discovered she had cancer. She knows she must be very careful during COVID-19. She wipes everything that comes into the house down. She misses the kids at the high school, she said “they kept her young.” She treated them like her grandchildren and some of them called her “Grandma” which she encouraged. She said she would love to still be working there.
Now, with COVID-19, Mrs. Acocella misses seeing the volunteers from MOW, she feels "they must be hand picked they are all so nice.” Before the virus. One volunteer changed a light bulb for her. The volunteer’s visit each day was something she really looked forward to. She said she appreciates and depends on the meals, one favorite recently was vegetable lasagna "it was delicious." Sometimes she feels watching too much news pulls you down. She enjoys getting lost in the stories of two favorite soap operas "their stories let you escape for a while." She has also been talking on the phone more with her family and friends.
MOWNR Volunteer and Board Member Maureen Pallotta
MOWNR Volunteer
Pat Houlihan with
Mrs. Acocella