Submitted by Fran Olson Gustafson 1965 <fgustafson917@gmail.com> on 06/Jan/2021 71.223.75.248
Virginia Drake Reggero
of New Windsor, NY was the eldest of seven children born to Peter and Minnie Bell Drake in Newburgh. She has gone home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and be reunited with her childhood sweetheart whom she was married to for 74 years, Franklin Reggero, her two sons, Franklin O. and Ronald M. and her daughter, Virginia (Ginny) Taegder McCue who all predeceased her. She leaves behind to cherish her memory her loving daughter, Michele (Shelly) Starkey (Keith Cardish), daughter-in-law, Barbara, son-in-law, Joe McCue, six grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. She was also predeceased by all seven of her siblings, her parents and one great-grandchild, Jenna Reggero. Virginia devoted her entire life to loving her family and she excelled at being a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her love and prayers comforted us through some of life's darkest moments. She truly was one of the last surviving members of "The Greatest Generation" and we were blessed beyond belief to have held on to her for all these many years. In truth, she lifted us up by loving, comforting and encouraging each of us. She was the backbone of our family. The family is heartbroken but we know without a doubt that she received an eternal welcoming home reunion in Heaven (2 Corinthians 5-8). A private family funeral service will be held at Brooks Funeral Home due to the current pandemic. Mausoleum interment will follow at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Newburgh. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Through the Years with Virginia Drake Reggero by Michele Starkey (reprinted with permission from the Orange County Post Newspaper, Jan 2015) As she looks back over her life, she is amazed at the connectivity of all the events that have brought her to the place she is today. "I met my husband while I was visiting two little girls in an orphanage in Newburgh. We had a marriage that spanned over 74 years and we bought a home on the land where I used to pick fruit when I was just a teenager back in the 1930s. If someone would have told me then that I would one day live on that land, I never would have thought that it would be a possibility." Virginia Drake is the eldest of seven children born to Peter and Minnie Bell Drake in Newburgh during the 1920s. She told us that she was just ten years old when she lived on Overlook Place on the Heights and babysat for two little neighborhood girls named Weenie and Midge Corno. "Can you imagine a ten-year-old babysitting for two little girls? I guess our neighbor saw me doing such a good job helping my mother with my baby brothers and sisters. I later heard that those two little girls ended up in an orphanage on Grand Street in Newburgh. One day while visiting them, I met my husband who was at the YMCA. I often wondered what became of those two sisters and would have loved to hear how their lives turned out. Perhaps one of your readers will know of them. Of course, they would be in their 80s by now." Her family eventually moved to 437 Broadway in Newburgh. Virginia's father was a self-employed carpenter who often built fruit crates for local farmers. "I was 14 years old at that time and my father told me about the farmers needing fruit pickers. The Marlboro farmers leased the land in what is now the Park Hill area of New Windsor that is near the Temple Hill School. The farmers would pick up the workers in trucks on Broadway and bring us out to the fields where we often worked all day long picking peaches, strawberries, raspberries and all kinds of fruit. It was back breaking work in the hot sun and I remember getting horribly sunburned. Most of the workers were children and there were not any child labor laws back in those days. Even though it was hard work and long days, we always made the most of it by singing songs and eating our lunches together. My younger brother, Orville, worked alongside of me and the farmers told us that we were their very best pickers. We were paid just two cents per pint but we gave all of the money to our mother because the economy was so bad and we were so poor." "After I married my husband and we settled in New Windsor, there was this one time when my sons were little and they snuck into the orchards that used to be where the Hess gas station is located on Union Avenue and Rt. 32. The farmer, Mr. Shaeffer, caught my sons picking fruit from his trees. I remember him telling them, "Pick all of the fruit that you want, boys, but just don't break any of the tree limbs. He was such a kind man." "Oddly enough, when we finally purchased our Park Hill area home in the 1960s, there were still two peach trees standing on our land even though most of the orchard was bulldozed to build homes. I may have picked fruit from those trees some thirty years earlier as a young girl. Life has a way of coming back around."
- September 24, 1921 - January 5, 2021
Virginia Drake Reggero
of New Windsor, NY was the eldest of seven children born to Peter and Minnie Bell Drake in Newburgh. She has gone home to be with the Lord Jesus Christ and be reunited with her childhood sweetheart whom she was married to for 74 years, Franklin Reggero, her two sons, Franklin O. and Ronald M. and her daughter, Virginia (Ginny) Taegder McCue who all predeceased her. She leaves behind to cherish her memory her loving daughter, Michele (Shelly) Starkey (Keith Cardish), daughter-in-law, Barbara, son-in-law, Joe McCue, six grandchildren and fifteen great-grandchildren. She was also predeceased by all seven of her siblings, her parents and one great-grandchild, Jenna Reggero. Virginia devoted her entire life to loving her family and she excelled at being a mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her love and prayers comforted us through some of life's darkest moments. She truly was one of the last surviving members of "The Greatest Generation" and we were blessed beyond belief to have held on to her for all these many years. In truth, she lifted us up by loving, comforting and encouraging each of us. She was the backbone of our family. The family is heartbroken but we know without a doubt that she received an eternal welcoming home reunion in Heaven (2 Corinthians 5-8). A private family funeral service will be held at Brooks Funeral Home due to the current pandemic. Mausoleum interment will follow at the Cedar Hill Cemetery in Newburgh. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. Through the Years with Virginia Drake Reggero by Michele Starkey (reprinted with permission from the Orange County Post Newspaper, Jan 2015) As she looks back over her life, she is amazed at the connectivity of all the events that have brought her to the place she is today. "I met my husband while I was visiting two little girls in an orphanage in Newburgh. We had a marriage that spanned over 74 years and we bought a home on the land where I used to pick fruit when I was just a teenager back in the 1930s. If someone would have told me then that I would one day live on that land, I never would have thought that it would be a possibility." Virginia Drake is the eldest of seven children born to Peter and Minnie Bell Drake in Newburgh during the 1920s. She told us that she was just ten years old when she lived on Overlook Place on the Heights and babysat for two little neighborhood girls named Weenie and Midge Corno. "Can you imagine a ten-year-old babysitting for two little girls? I guess our neighbor saw me doing such a good job helping my mother with my baby brothers and sisters. I later heard that those two little girls ended up in an orphanage on Grand Street in Newburgh. One day while visiting them, I met my husband who was at the YMCA. I often wondered what became of those two sisters and would have loved to hear how their lives turned out. Perhaps one of your readers will know of them. Of course, they would be in their 80s by now." Her family eventually moved to 437 Broadway in Newburgh. Virginia's father was a self-employed carpenter who often built fruit crates for local farmers. "I was 14 years old at that time and my father told me about the farmers needing fruit pickers. The Marlboro farmers leased the land in what is now the Park Hill area of New Windsor that is near the Temple Hill School. The farmers would pick up the workers in trucks on Broadway and bring us out to the fields where we often worked all day long picking peaches, strawberries, raspberries and all kinds of fruit. It was back breaking work in the hot sun and I remember getting horribly sunburned. Most of the workers were children and there were not any child labor laws back in those days. Even though it was hard work and long days, we always made the most of it by singing songs and eating our lunches together. My younger brother, Orville, worked alongside of me and the farmers told us that we were their very best pickers. We were paid just two cents per pint but we gave all of the money to our mother because the economy was so bad and we were so poor." "After I married my husband and we settled in New Windsor, there was this one time when my sons were little and they snuck into the orchards that used to be where the Hess gas station is located on Union Avenue and Rt. 32. The farmer, Mr. Shaeffer, caught my sons picking fruit from his trees. I remember him telling them, "Pick all of the fruit that you want, boys, but just don't break any of the tree limbs. He was such a kind man." "Oddly enough, when we finally purchased our Park Hill area home in the 1960s, there were still two peach trees standing on our land even though most of the orchard was bulldozed to build homes. I may have picked fruit from those trees some thirty years earlier as a young girl. Life has a way of coming back around."
- September 24, 1921 - January 5, 2021