The remarkable Dr. Olivia J. Hooker, Ph.D. of White Plains - the top honoree at the recent 29th annual Senior Hall of Fame Awards Luncheon - received a long standing ovation from the 530 luncheon guests for her decades of pioneering achievement.
“My six decades plus one year in Westchester County have brought me joys and challenges,” said Dr. Hooker, who is has been a civil rights and women’s rights advocate for most of her 96 years. She is frail, but spoke in a strong voice.
“Concentrate on your actions that every one will be a step for our county and to brighten our future,” she said. “Let’s return our county to its former stature of a sentinel of compassion and achievement that will bring us up and onward.”
Dr. Hooker was presented with a clock by Kevin J. Plunkett, deputy Westchester county executive. The event took place at the Westchester Marriott Hotel in Tarrytown, and Dr. Hooker was one or 43 seniors who were honored.
The Oklahoma native was six years old when she survived the Tulsa Race Riots in 1921 where hundreds of African-Americans were killed and their community was burned to the ground.
That horrific memory has shaped her entire life. She went on to found the Tulsa Race Riot Commission and to this day continues to fight for equal rights for all people, as a frequent speaker before senior groups and at houses of worship.
She was a pioneer in other ways as well, being the first African-American woman to enlist and go on active duty in the U.S. Coast Guard during World War II.
Long retired, Dr. Hooker had worked as a psychologist in Yonkers schools and was a professor at Fordham University. She was nominated for the award by Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester and Putnam. Dr. Hooker served on the agency’s board from 1988 to 1994.
Five seniors received “special recognition” for their achievements at the program. They are Joan DiPalma of Rye, Armando Galella of Sleepy Hollow, Carol Greenberg of White Plains, Louise D. Muller of Pelham and Stephen J. Siegel of White Plains.
The Senior Hall of Fame is sponsored by the Westchester County Department of Senior Programs and Services, Westchester County Parks and the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Services. This year’s program was co-sponsored by Visiting Nurse Services in Westchester and Putnam.
Others honored at the Senior Hall of fame include:
Joan DiPalma, RN, of Rye is a former operating room nurse, who has always been a strong advocate for giving senior citizens access to health-related information that they can play a greater role in their own care. She launched and expanded the “Ask the Visiting Nurse Program,” a community outreach initiative that provides seniors with health screenings and one-on-one health discussions and counseling with nurses from VNSWP. The program began in 1988, and today has operations at more than 60 senior residences and community sites. DiPalma served on the VNSWP board from 1984 to the present, and was chair from 1999 to 2003. She also was a board member of Hospice and Palliative Care of Westchester from 1986 until the present day.
Armando V. Galella of Sleepy Hollow is 90 years old, and has lived in Sleepy Hollow for virtually his entire life. A long-time member of the Pocantico Hook & Ladder Co., he has held every position with that organization, including president. As fire commissioner of Sleepy Hollow, Galella developed and implemented a volunteer team, which evolved into the current volunteer ambulance corps. As a young man, he served in the military and was part of the 53rd Signal Corps at Hickam Air Base near Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. He survived the Pearl Harbor attack and the invasion of Okinowa and eventually rose to become a battalion sergeant major. Over the years, Galella has spoken to students in social studies classes in many local schools about his wartime experiences and the importance of good citizenship.
Carol Greenberg of White Plains has more than 30 years of experience in nursing home administration, community based programs and proprietary home care agencies – years, which have earned her an excellent reputation in the home health area. Since 1995, she has been president and chief executive of Concept: Care Inc., a home health-care agency in White Plains. Long active in the community, Greenberg has served as president of the New York State Association of Health Care Providers and is a former chair of the Westchester Public/Private Partnership for Aging Service. The partnership honored Greenberg with its prestigious Golden Harvest Leadership Award in 2004 for her work with seniors.
Louise D. Muller of Pelham has been a community leader and volunteer for many years, and her work has centered on the education of children and young people. At various times, Muller has served as president of the Pelham Board of Education, Southern Westchester BOCES, the Westchester Putnam School Boards Association and the Westchester Children’s Association. As a young woman, Muller graduated magna cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa from Mount Holyoke College and received a master’s degree in international affairs from the Harvard/Radcliffe Graduate School of arts and Sciences. Today, she enjoys ceramics, music and gardening.
Stephen J. Siegel of White Plains worked in the information technology industry for 40 years, and was founder and president of two national computer consulting companies. More recently, the Mount Vernon native has been a volunteer with Westchester Jewish Community Services’ “Amazing Afternoon” program. Here, he volunteers every week at Mount Vernon elementary school where many of the children qualify for free or reduced-price lunches, come from single-parent homes and may live in homeless shelters. Recently when state funding threatened to discontinue the afternoon programs, Siegel reached out to his fellow congregants at the Westchester Reform Temple and they raised almost $160,000 to sustain the program for the 2011-2012 season.
Seniors are nominated to the Hall of Fame by members of the community and the winners are selected by a screening committee composed of Hall of Fame members and the DSPS staff.
The names of Hall of Fame winners are engraved on plaques that are permanently displayed at the DSPS office in Mount Vernon
This year’s honorees are:
Bedford: Dr. Marian Rose, PhD.
Bedford Hills: David F. Brown
Briarcliff Manore: Douglas Paddock
Bronxville: Dr. Joan O’Gorman, PhD.
Chappaqua: Betsey Casey Metz
Croton-on-Hudson: Annette Birnbaum
Harrison: Paula Tarantino, Charlotte Vaughn
Hartsdale: Alan Hochberg
Irvington: Claire Mastroianni
Katonah: Richard Salvaterra
Larchmont: Ruth M. Lewis, Robert Waldman
Mamaroneck: Friedhilde Milburn, Josie Santangelo
Montrose: Theresa McHale
Mount Vernon: Barbara McElveen, Henrietta Rush
New Rochelle: Betty A. Barker, Maurice Brick
Peekskill: John D’Angelo, Fran Green, Tina McDermott
Pelham: Louise D. Muller**
Pleasantville: Anthony Sardanelli, Elizabeth Sardanelli
Rye: Joan DePalma,** Lou Jaskow, Helen Roman, Thomas M. Saunders
Sleepy Hollow: Armando V. Galella**
Somers: Fedora C. DeLucia
Tarrytown: Robert F. Patterson
White Plains: Michael Chiarvalle, Carol Greenberg, ** John W. Harrington, Dr. Olivia J. Hooker, PhD.* Mercedes Leis, Stephen J. Siegel **
Yonkers: Selma Charkin, Angela Mastromarco, Nick Mastromarco,
Yorktown Heights: Jennie Menton Grasso
*- top honors
**- special recognition
Photography by John Vecchiola