Port native Gnecco dies at 98

Rose Weldon
Josephine Epaminonde Gnecco, a lifelong resident and active member of the Port Washington community, has died. (Photo courtesy of Leslie Ann Hartley)

Josephine Epaminonde Gnecco, a lifelong and active resident in the Port Washington area, has died.

Gnecco was 98 when she died on July 15, according to her great-granddaughter Lesley Ann Hartling.

The youngest daughter of Italian immigrant Alphonso Epaminonde, who first came to the Port area in 1899, and his wife Anna (nee Bellafatto), Gnecco was born on December 15, 1921, the younger sister of Grace and Louis, and later the older sister of Alphonso Jr.

As a child, Gnecco attended Main Street School, now known as the Landmark on Main Street, and graduated from Port Washington High School, now Paul D. Schreiber High School, as part of the class of 1940. A year later, she married Lawrence Gnecco, introduced to her by her sister Grace, and they would welcome two daughters, Claire and Linda, in the early 1940s.

In 1960, Gnecco was hired as a bookkeeper at the First Federal Savings bank, and later held positions as a special services representative, teller, and notary. Once the bank became Dime Savings Bank in 1974, Gnecco served as branch manager at its Soundview location, one of the first women on Long Island to hold such a position. In 1980, she returned to the Main Street branch to serve as Vice President of the bank.

Gnecco was a member of the Order Sons and Daughters of Italy in America’s John Michael Marino Lodge for over 39 years, holding the position of Lodge Financial Secretary and serving as a member of numerous Lodge committees, following in the footsteps of her father, a member who joined in 1926. She was also a frequent face at the food tent at the Lodge’s annual Grande Festa Italiano, preparing and serving food for countless years.

Into her retirement, Gnecco served as president of Senior Power in Nassau County, was an active volunteer of Meals on Wheels in the North Shore area, and was a parishioner of St. Peter of Alcantara Church. She also volunteered at the front desk at St. Francis Hospital where Hartling she had put in over 10,000 volunteer hours.

She is survived by her daughters as well as five grandchildren, Jennifer, Richard, Laurie, Claire, and Larry; 10 great-grandchildren, Lesley, Pia, Brina, Jessica, Stephanie, Rebekah, Phoebe, Julianne, Sebastian and Emma; and three great-great-grandchildren, Mackenzie, Kayleigh, and Basil. Gnecco was predeceased by her husband Lawrence, who died in 1982 after 41 years of marriage.

In addition to her work throughout the Port community, Gnecco earned recognition as a published poet, with her writing included in the 1999 edition of “The International Library of Poetry,” the collection “Life Through the Eyes of a Wonderful Woman,” and “America at the Millennium – The Best Poets of the 20th Century,” printed in 2000.

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