Eugene C. Del Vecchio

TROY - Eugene C. Del Vecchio passed away quietly on Monday December 30th, 2013 at Samaritan Hospital in Troy, NY. Born in Brooklyn NY in 1926, the son of Nickolas and Sarah Del Vecchio, he was the youngest of 6 sisters and 4 brothers and the last one to pass on. He attended New Utkrecht High School and St. Francis Preparatory in Brooklyn playing on a hockey scholarship before entering the U.S. Army Air Corp. in 1944 and serving in the Pacific as a Sgt. and ball turret gunner on B-24 and B-29 bombers in the 6th Bomb Group, 20th Air Force. Postwar, he attended St. Lawrence University on the G. I. Bill, graduating with Baccalaureate in 1951 and a Master of Science degree following in 1956. As a goalie he was Captain of the hockey team in his senior year and selected as a member of the National Hockey Team, the first All American Hockey team to visit Japan on a goodwill tour after the war. As a player, he was later elected to the St. Lawrence University Hall of Fame, an honor he took great pride in having received. He met and married his wife, Elizabeth, “Betty”, in 1948 while at St. Lawrence and they enjoyed a lifelong love of travel together from their early family Sunday drives to retirement ocean cruising. Taking a position with the Troy School District in 1952, he taught school for 36 years and coached sports for 26, including varsity hockey, football, and track at Troy High before finally retiring in 1988 as the Athletic Director. “Coach” continued working part-time until 1996 in the job he loved and with the community of people he enjoyed most. He felt honored by his placement as a coach in both the Troy High School Hall of Fame and New York State Hockey Hall of Fame. He is survived by his son Brian and wife Margaret Del Vecchio of Palmyra, Va., his daughter Marcie Jean Del Vecchio, his daughter-in-law Janice Del Vecchio, and his grandson Christopher and wife Karen Del Vecchio. He was loving father and passed his great love of life and the people around him on to his family and friends and we will all greatly miss him. At his request, no public viewing will be scheduled. Church services will be held on Thursday Jan. 2nd at 12:00 noon at Our Lady of Victory church in Troy with burial services to immediately follow at St. Mary’s Cemetery on Tibbett’s Ave. In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory can be made to the American Kidney Fund, 11921 Rockville Pike, Suite 300 Rockville, MD 20852.