Meet the Vernon Senior of the Year

BY CHRIS WYMAN
VERNON — Last Thursday afternoon, in front of about 200 township seniors and guests, Mayor Victor Marotta described Vernon’s Senior of the Year as, “the whole package, beautiful inside and outside, an inspirational role model, wholesome, down to earth, genuine; she is one in a million.”

A true Vernon native, Eleanor Cacchio, 75, has long been involved in the community. She grew up on a dairy farm on Maple Grange Road and volunteered as a candy striper at St. Anthony’s Hospital in nearby Warwick, NY.

Later on she worked with children who had cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy, and other serious illnesses at the Matheny School in Peapack. According to her Senior of the Year nomination form, she would often bring these same children home on weekends and holidays so that they too would have time with a family and not be alone.

On hand was State Senator Steve Oroho and Assemblywoman Alison Littell McHose. McHose presented Cacchio with a New Jersey Assembly certificate lauding her accomplishments.

In 1976 she became an active member of the Vernon Township Ambulance Squad and served for 37 years as a volunteer. Today she serves as an honorary member of the squad.

Cacchio worked as an office manager for Vernon pediatricians for 20 years. “Eleanor Cacchio was the go to person you could always bank on, who would always go the extra mile to help you receive excellent service,” said Marotta.

For all of her adult life Cacchio has been an active member of Glenwood Baptist Church, and for years hosted a weekly bible study in her home. She is also known to have helped out people simply because they needed help.

Marrota concluded by saying, “A captain from Vernon’s ambulance squad depicted Eleanor the best. He said, ‘She gives of herself tremendously. She definitely has a heart of gold.’ To be quite honest with you, as a fellow Vernon Township resident I am extremely proud just to have been able to know her.”