Amelia Bocchicchio was born in Jersey City on February 10, 1947 in a rough and tumble neighborhood that few could handle. Her mom, a homemaker and her dad a union manager in the glass industry, she had all the oportunities other kids had but with exception - her dad saw her as the ultimate love of his lifetime - she was everything to him. For years, she thought her family was wealthy but little did she know that her dad over-extended himself to make sure she had the best of everything, no matter what it took.
As you would expect. she excelled at everything she did, excellent grades and she excelled in the arts far more than any of her contemporaries or higher. She was born this way: naturally gifted in drawing, painting but also very technical in mathematics/sciences which was not common for someone that gifted in the arts. She had the potential to excel in just about everything and she had no problem getting her hands dirty - who helped her dad paint, put up wallpaper, build shelves, remodel and etc.? Her, of course, so much so that she helped her own sons understand carpentry and the fundamentals of house building at a young age, but she mastered this as a child!
Fast forward to the age of 19, she was married young to Ronald D’Agui and was expecting here first child who they decided to name Joseph Patrick after compromise. Amelia’s idea was to name him Alexander. Like anything else in her life, she went full-bore into being a good mother, with emphasis on rearing a child that could fend for himself/herself early - the concept being full independence, freewill and an inquisitive mind. The question you ask is: who does this at 20? I mean really, who has this foresight at such a young age? Her second child came 2 1/2 years later who was named Michael James, middle name after her dad. The boys were equally tasked at becoming self sufficient, free-thinking beings at a young age via the tutelage of the ultimate Pai Mei
Her marriage to Ronald D’Agui wasn’t exactly a walk in the park - they were drastically different: Ronald was a soldier, engineer, builder, plumber and happily at the right wing of things. As you know, Amelia was at the left side of things and completely creative and artistic. By 1977, they were divorced and Amelia was raising two boys on her own. Always ambitious, she set out to work in direct marketing, her first cool boss Louis Faber set the stage and fueled her ambition by simply seeing what everyone else saw - she was great at creating a successful product on her own.
The placated life in the late 70’s, early 80’s wasn’t enough, she pushed herself to her dream job - architect and interior designer. Not an easy task mind you - she worked full time during the day and went to Parson’s school of design at night. While in school, she decided to buy an abandoned sewing factory on 20th street and Broadway in Bayonne NJ with the help of some friends who would become co-owners. I watched her stay up into the wee hours of the morning completely redesigning it from her mind to her architect drawing space, which in turn became blue prints and one of the most significant architectural masterpieces of that time, anywhere. Based on her main influence Frank Lloyd Wright, the space was a perfect harmony of function and beauty in the most natural state. Everything had flow - the space made sense. This was just the beginning of her work….
She was a marketing executive for Prudential and QVC for most of her career, but she had the entrepreneurial spark before that to start a resume writing business (I helped), as well as a design side business where she would do the start-to-finish of an interior space for her clients - what she brought to the table was technical skills, good design sense and just plain good taste which most people lacked. When she decided to retire and move to Panama, she designed and built the ultimate home - it was built into a mountain, as Frank Lloyd Wright did, with the ultimate use of space, a perfect marriage of function and form. It was so much the case that when she sold it, the buyer wanted the house and everything in it as it was - who does this? Who else can master style and design so perfectly… Besides design. she never stopped creating great art in several mediums from her time as a child all the way to now.
Panama was the ultimate home for her spiritually - this was where she contributed most to the home community, the real people, and the ex-pats alike. While there she mastered the Spanish language and volunteered to teach English to the people there, later contributing to a theater company and cooking organizations. She spoke so fondly of the people she met and what they accomplished together, it was hard to imagine that she would leave, but she did - it was a bit harsh and she needed simplicity so she moved to Florida. As you would guess, she resigned her living spaces to suit her and made many new friends. Her last marriage didn’t work out so she started over at the age of 69, but the right way - she went completely into sculpture - a new art form for her and in time, she met the ultimate love of her life James Long.
She told me he was just a friend, but he was her best friend and probably the only equal she ever met. She was extremely happy in her last year on this earth thanks to him and it was very much a life cut short, they should have had many more adventures together but she unknowingly had lung cancer in January of 2017. She took some tests in February, didn’t want to know the results until she got back from her trip, with Jim this time, to Panama to see her friends and the places she loved. After getting back, the results were clear, she knew she had to make the best of the time she had and she did. This 5’2” ball of dynamite fought hard to bring back a sense of normalcy to her family, to Jim, until she couldn’t hold on any longer. She passed away on April 23rd at around 2:00PM, thoughtful as ever, saying goodbye to me and my brother the night before with the last breath of life she had.
Like she told me when I was in my 20’s burning the candle at both ends: “The light that burns twice as bright burns twice as fast”, and boy, did she burn bright all time… She lived the life of hundred people as you will see in the content of this site.