Remembering Vincenza Alessi

Her time on Earth was far brief, but her legacy of love and caring goes on.

Cherished Vincenza Alessi, 28, became an angel on Sunday, April 10, after a two-year battle against a rare blood disorder. Heaven is so lucky to have her home.

Vincenza was a 2012 graduate of Cooperstown Central School, earning her degree in psychology and women's studies from the State University of New York at Oneonta. She recently had earned her master's degree in special education from Grand Canyon University.

Vincenza taught special education classes at Charlotte Valley Central School in Davenport, New York and, while studying for her master's, substituted for two years at Cooperstown Central.

She loved teaching and her students adored her. She found great joy in the young children she was able to help and looked forward to a long career using her talents in her chosen field. Without knowing, Vincenza even taught the dieticians at New York Presbyterian Hospital how to expand and modify their menu selections; as her health deteriorated and she was eating less, she would ask her nurse for simple foods not on the menu: pasta and butter, pasta and red sauce, string cheese, salad with chicken. When she returned to New York Presbyterian for the final time several weeks ago, staff reached out to proudly show her a brand-new menu for patients - one filled with the very dishes she had requested, now a part of the Hospital's regular offering.