Warwick resident Emma Peccia celebrates 100th birthday

WARWICK — A popular Italian toast, "Cent Anni," wishes someone a healthy 100 years of life.
But for Emma Peccia, who was born in the Italian town of Cantalupo in the Province of Abruzzo, on July 6, 1918, that toast needs an upward revision.
On Saturday, June 30, Peccia celebrated her 100th birthday with her family at the Warwick Country Club.
In the year that Peccia was born the president of the United States was Woodrow Wilson and in her native Italy, Viktor Emmanuel III was the King. Motion pictures were silent and radios were still not a popular form of home entertainment.
From Abruzzo to BrooklynAt age 16, Peccia immigrated to the United States through Ellis Island with her mother and her sister, Helen.
Going to work soon after arriving in America was not an option in those days and she is proud of her 35 years as an employee of the Calvert Coat Co., a Brooklyn firm that manufactured the Eisenhower military jackets.
Peccia and her husband, John, since deceased, were longtime Brooklyn residents.
They raised three children and today she can boast about her seven grandchildren and eight great grandchildren.
Peccia, who doesn't smoke but used to enjoy an occasional glass of wine, credits her longevity to working hard. She still enjoys gardening and cooking.
"She is a great cook," said her grandson and Warwick Pediatrician Dr. Dominick Berlingieri.
During her long life Peccia has witnessed extraordinary changes in transportation, communication, home appliances and what-have-you. But her favorite invention is television.
Peccia is more comfortable speaking Italian but she said, "I love the TV."
Before coming to WarwickAn interesting aside is that before moving to Warwick in 1987 to be near her family, she lived in West Milford and was part of the staff at St. Joseph Catholic Church, where she worked in the rectory cooking and cleaning for the priests.
While there she met and developed a close relationship with Father Mychael Judge, OFM, who later served as a chaplain to the New York City Fire Department. It was while serving in that capacity that he was killed, becoming the first certified fatality of the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. Father Judge had kept in touch with her to that day.
- Roger Gavan