 White Plains, NY - A long-time White Plains educator, a woman who helps seniors with Medicare issues and a former supervisor of a group home for mildly retarded adults will be among the 37 people inducted into the Senior Citizen Hall of Fame at its 25th annual luncheon on Friday, Dec. 7.
The gala event will take place from 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Westchester Marriott in Tarrytown. This year’s festivities will include a champagne toast in honor of the Hall of Fame’s Silver Anniversary.
Andrew L. Morzello of White Plains, who was a teacher and administrator with the White Plains school system for more than 40 years, will receive top honors at this year’s event.
Five seniors will receive “special recognition.” They are Teresa V. Aversa of Scarsdale, a former teacher and businesswoman; Barbara Bellamy of Yonkers, a former group home supervisor; and Rae Faith Robinson of White Plains, former president of the Friends of the White Plains Public Library.
Also receiving special recognition will be Norah Rossi of Tuckahoe, director of the Lake Isle Senior Center in Eastchester and Dr. Lois Steinberg of Larchmont, Ph.D., Westchester program director with the Medicare Rights Center and program founder.
Five honorees are between the ages of 95 and 99, and several continue to serve as volunteers. Aversa - at age 99 - is the oldest. Pansy Brown of White Plains is 96, while three honorees are 95: Camille Burke of Mount Vernon, Rose Kuslansky of Mohegan Lake and Dr. Walter Sonneborn, M.D. of Scarsdale.
The Hall of Fame was established by the county’s Department of Senior Programs and Services (DSPS) in 1982 to honor seniors who have contributed their energies and talents as professionals and volunteers to enhance the quality of life throughout Westchester or in their communities. They receive the honor for humanitarianism, philanthropy or outstanding leadership in starting or expanding services and programs.
DSPS Commissioner Mae Carpenter said the 25th anniversary of the Senior Hall of Fame shows the depth of commitment and talent Westchester seniors have brought to their communities year after year.
“Letters from people who nominated the seniors for the Hall of Fame honor often used words like ‘dynamo,’ ‘dedicated’ and ‘tireless’ to describe them,” Carpenter said. “It shows that getting older is never a barrier to civic involvement and helping to improve the lives of others.
“Their contributions have made Westchester an even better place to live, and are proof that seniors are a vital part of the quality of life in our County,” she said. “They have enriched their communities and have always awed and inspired me.”
As in years past, all the seniors will follow the tradition of lighting a candle on a cake when their names are called during the induction ceremony.
Top honoree Morzello was born and raised in White Plains and has spent virtually his entire career in the city’s school system. Over the years, he has taught social studies, world history, English and remedial reading, and also worked as a guidance counselor.
From 1982 to 2001, he was the system’s director of Adult, Continuing and Alternative Education, which serves some 10,000 students a year. He said it became the first adult education program to be cited by the U.S. Office of Education as an “Adult Education Center of Excellence.” He held other top administrative positions in the White Plains schools, and from 2003 to 2005 was interim assistant principal at Harrison High School.
Morzello has always been an active volunteer. He served as chair and chief volunteer officer of the United Way of Westchester-Putnam, president of the Rotary Club of White Plains and was Rotary International’s representative to the United Nations.
Through Rotary he won a scholarship to the University of the Philippines where he was a volunteer adjunct professor of education. He taught teachers there how to improve their teaching skills in the country’s northern rural province of Luzon. Always an active member of Mount Carmel Church in White Plains, Morzello currently is its director of religious education.
Aversa’s parents emigrated from Italy and settled in Brooklyn where she was only one of five children in their neighborhood who went to college, During the Depression, she taught herself bookkeeping. Years later, she earned two master degrees from New York University and taught French and Italian.
She also helped her late husband with his business, Aversa & Martin, Inc., and ran the company after his death. Aversa & Martin manufactured cosmetic applicators for companies such as Revlon, Max Factor and Estee Lauder. She is also a long-time member of the local Emblem Club #334, the women’s division of the Elks, where she continues to do volunteer work, and is a member of the Woman’s Club of Eastchester
Bellamy, now retired, worked for many years as supervisor of a Westchester ARC group home for mildly retarded adults in Bronxville. Today she lives in Kubasek Trinity Manor (The Hallows) where she is president of the tenant’s association and a leader in DSPS’ Services Outstationed to Seniors program. When a fire broke out at the building last February, she alerted tenants to get out and, later, helped to arrange for their temporary housing.
After raising her two children, Bellamy went back to school and earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1987 from the College of New Rochelle. She is an active member of the New Life Fellowship Church in Mount Vernon where she hosts parties for seniors and helps with fund-raising projects.
Robinson was a professor and head of cataloging at Hunter College, and she worked for 30 years. She drew on her deep knowledge and skills as a librarian to serve as president of the Friends of the White Plains Public Library for 10 years. She was a vigorous advocate for the library and worked to increase membership in the Friends group and financial support.
At one point, Robinson helped the Friends to raise $75,000 through book sales and other activities, and much of that funding was earmarked to update the children’s library. Funding also was used to buy furniture, a grand piano and a large-screen video projector. She was also president of the Garden Club of White Plains and has been active in the Woman’s Club of White Plains.
Rossi is the director of the Lake Isle Senior Center, which is visited by about 100 people every day. She manages and executes all its activities, including trips to museums, art workshops, dance lessons, discussion of current events and programs on financial planning and physical fitness.
Rossi also organizes daily deliveries of Meals-on-Wheels to homebound seniors and has organized groups of seniors to visit “The Fountain,” an assisted-living facility in Tuckahoe where they help residents adjust to their new lifestyle. In addition, Rossi is a volunteer with the Pope Generoso Foundation.
Steinberg is Westchester program director with the Medicare Rights Center in Westchester, a non-profit, New York City-based, national consumer service organization. She is also founder of the Westchester program where she recruits and manages 50 volunteers who visit senior centers in the county every month to provide information and answer questions about Medicare.
Steinberg, who has a master’s degree in health advocacy from Sarah Lawrence College, has worked to improve health literacy in the county. She was recognized for her work when she was named a 2006 Purpose Prize Fellow by Civic Ventures as part of its national initiative to recognize Americans over 60 who are leading social innovation and dealing with issues in their communities.
Names of the Hall of Fame winners are put on a plaque and displayed at the DSPS offices in Mount Vernon. Since the Hall of Fame began, more than 730 seniors have been inducted.
Nominations come from the community, and winners are selected by a screening committee composed of Hall of Fame members and DSPS staff. To be nominated a person must be a Westchester resident of 60 years or older and have made significant and enduring contributions to the County.
The following seniors will also be honored for their leadership roles in the community:
CHAPPAQUA: Morton Ross
CORTLANDT MANOR: Lena M. DeSantes, Leah Olsen
CROTON-ON-HUDSON: Ray DiCioccio
IRVINGTON: Margaret De Paolo, Gina Maher, Mary J. Russo
MOUNT KISCO: Julia B. Jefferson
MOUNT VERNON: Camille Burke, Edna Harris, Shirley V. Jackson, Mollie Zang Vogel, Evelyn N. Young
NEW ROCHELLE: Dorothy M. Haden
OSSINING: Aileen & Bill Hunt, Marie J. Strub
RYE: Arthur H. Stampleman
SCARSDALE: Judith A. Goldstein, Dorothy A. Hobson, Glen T. Nygreen, Dr.Walter Sonneborn, M.D.
TARRYTOWN: Martin Anniccherico
WHITE PLAINS: Pansy Brown, Verdell F. Hilliard, Abraham Landau, Joe Manzo, Pearl Seigel
YONKERS: Francis J. Bowen, Kathleen Pistone Carucci
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