Lucy Palatucci

Lucy Palatucci, age 106, passed peacefully at home on Monday, July 20, 2020.

She was born to Anthony and Patrina Campagnia in Midvale.  Lucy graduated from Butler High School with the Class of 1931. Just out of high school, Lucy worked as a secretary at a local insurance company before setting out on her own, eventually opening The Pompton Lakes Insurance Agency, which was located at 290 Wanaque Avenue in Pompton Lakes.  At her agency she sold insurance and was a real estate broker. Lucy ran her company for many years and retired in the 1980s.

Lucy met the love of her life, Armand Palatucci in the late 1930s.  They married on October 27, 1940 at St. Francis Church in Wanaque.   They drove down south on their honeymoon, stopping to see the sites in Washington, D.C. As they continued on their journey south, having the time of their lives, the giggling newlyweds attempted to sneak onto a cottonfield to try their hand at picking cotton. They were soon chased off the field by a warning shot. Lucy and Armand enjoyed 43 years of marriage until his passing in March of 1984.

In addition to working and raising her children, Lucy was a Brownie Troop Leader and a member of the Ground Observer Corp., often bringing her two children to the watch tower in Butler in the middle of the night to help out with identifying the planes that flew overhead.

Upon her retirement Lucy became very active with the Saint Mary’s Seniors with whom she took many memorable trips. Some of her favorite vacations, which she enjoyed with the many friends whom she met through the Seniors, included Hawaii, where she took a helicopter ride that flew into a volcano; Rome, where she met the Pope; and a trip through the Panama Canal.  The Pompton Lakes Woman’s Club would host an annual flower competition and Lucy’s roses won several prizes over the years.  Lucy had an adventurous spirit and enjoyed country line dancing, watching the soap opera The Young & Restless, and keeping up with the times by reading Star Magazine. Through the years her home was the go-to place for Sunday dinners and all family gatherings. She would effortlessly prepare huge multi-course meals with love as one of her main ingredients.

She was the loving mother of Armand Palatucci, Jr. and his wife Patricia of Medford, and Barbara Cahill and her late husband Bill (d.2015); she was the cherished grandmother of Christine Wilson and her husband Douglas, Brian Palatucci, Deborah Simpkins and her husband Christopher, Todd Cahill and his wife Michelle, Allison Harraka and her husband Brian, and Melanie Lamon and her husband Randy; Lucy was also the dearly loved great-grandmother of thirteen great-grandchildren; she was also the loved sister of Lena Carlough and her late husband Chester of Mooresville, NC and was predeceased by her siblings Theresa, Mary, Rose, Millie, John, and Frank.

Memorial donations to the Hospice of NJ, 400 Broadacres Drive #1, Bloomfield, NJ 07003 would be appreciated.