Obituary of Eileen Errichetti

Eileen Errichetti, of Little Egg Harbor, formerly of Madison, died peacefully on Saturday, March 2, 2019 surrounded by the love of her family. She was 88. Eileen was born in Newark on December 20, 1930 to the late Pasquale and Jenni Addonizio. Eileen grew up in South Orange. She was one of four children- she had two sisters, Dolly and Gloria, and one brother, Frankie. Their mother was a homemaker and their father was a butcher.

Eileen loved South Orange and was proud that she was raised there. It was beautiful “back then”, she would always say. She was very proud that she went to Columbia High School in Maplewood, graduating in the class of 1948.

When her older sister Gloria met her future husband, Jimmy in West Orange, is when Eileen met Frank Errichetti, who lived right next door.

After they were married, Eileen and Frank bought their family home in 1965 at 12 Avon Drive in Madison. Her brother, Frankie and Gloria bought 14 Avon Drive at the same time. Both couples raised their families closely, where cousins were more like brothers. Eileen and Frank were happily married for over 50 years and lived in Madison for most of those years, prior to moving to Little Egg Harbor in their retirement.

Eileen loved all the Roman Catholic saints. She knew and prayed to them all, especially Saint Peter, Saint Frances, Saint Thomas and Saint Paul. She always said that when you lost something, Saint Anthony knew how to find it for you.

Eileen had a long career at Morristown Memorial Hospital as an administrative assistant in the Tuberculosis ward. Her favorite thing to do in retirement was hitting the slot machines in Atlantic City. Whether it was a penny or nickel slot machine, they were hours and hours of fun to be had.

Eileen loved cats. She loved letting family and friends know that she was a cat person and not a dog person.

Eileen loved listening to an old-time jukebox radio every morning. She loved listening to the oldies, especially Elvis Presley. She recently became a country music fan, especially for Luke Bryan.

Later in life, Eileen became a NASCAR fan. She especially loved Martin Truex. Jr. like a third son, and even loved his girlfriend, Sherry Pollack. She followed every NASCAR race and knew every statistic. Eileen knew every detail, even that Truex’s mechanic, Cole Pearn, was from Canada. She loved that she somehow had something to do with the naming of Martin Truex Jr. Boulevard near her home. Eileen had a scrapbook this thick with all Martin Truex, Jr. articles. One fateful day at the horse races at Monmouth Park, she played Truex’s birthday numbers, June 29, 1980 and won the big trifecta jackpot. 

Eileen loved celebrating Columbus Day and she loved talking about the old days of baseball. She loved the NY Yankees and Joe DiMaggio. She had a strong sense of pride in her Italian-American heritage and loved anything to do with Italian-American culture. She loved her cannolis, sveadals and took pride in making homemade manicotti every Christmas. She was also well known for her homemade brownies with chocolate icing and cheesecake with a sour cream topping, but as always- no graham cracker crust.

She loved collecting bone China tea cups even though she didn’t like tea and she loved jewelry.

In additions to her parents and siblings, Eileen was predeceased by her beloved husband of over 50 years, Frank Errichetti in 2013; and her nephew, Jimmy Ferrara, Jr. She is survived by her two devoted sons, Paul Errichetti and his wife, Julie of New Market, MD & Steven Errichetti and his wife, Patricia of Madison; and her five cherished grandchildren, Madison, Noah, Eva, Connor & Dylan.

Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend a visitation to celebrate Eileen’ life from 9:00AM to 11:00AM on Tuesday, March 5, 2019 at the Madison Memorial Home, 159 Main Street, Madison, with an 11:00AM funeral service led by Fr. Przemyslaw K. Gawlik, held at the funeral home immediately after the visitation. Interment will follow at Gate of Heaven Cemetery, East Hanover.

In lieu of flowers, charitable contributions may be made in Eileen’s memory to the Martin Truex, Jr. Foundation at https://www.martintruexjrfoundation.org/donate-to-mtj-foundation/

For more information or condolences to the family, please visit www.madisonmemorialhome.com