Senior center leader passes

Angela Buonocore, longtime volunteer at the Morris Park Community Association and the senior coordinator for the organization for the past three years, died recently. She is being remembered by all who knew her as a warm person who was always eager to volunteer for her community. She was the proud mother of two children.

Buonocore, who was 68, began her volunteer life as a volunteer at the MPCA 30 years ago after the association helped her with a problem, former MPCA president and friend Frank Agovino remembered.

“We had helped her and when she came back to thank us she wanted to help us by volunteering,” Agovino said. “She became a base operator for our patrols, and was always there and very dedicated ever since joining us, back in the early 1980s.”

Agovino said that she assisted in putting up Christmas decorations and with the Las Vegas Casino Night fund raiser for many years. Agovino nominated her to take the reins of the association’s senior program three years ago when he was president of the organization.

“I wanted her to be senior coordinator,” Agovino said. “She was always very upbeat and loved to be out on trips with the ladies in the program. She knew a lot of the seniors and they liked her.”

Her sister, Janet Deprospo, will take over as senior coordinator for the MPCA’s program. She said that her sister’s dedication has made her job easier because the program grew a lot under her leadership.

“She increased membership at the Morris Park Community Association senior program and now we have over 70 members,” Deprospo said.

DeProspero remembered her sister as an outgoing person who was always smiling.

Buonocore grew up on Lurting Avenue and attended St. Francis Xavier school. She also raised her children on Lurting Avenue. She is the mother of two grown children, Lisa and John.

“She was really proud of her kids,” Deprospo said.

Her sister said that she worked for 30 years at Albert Einstein College of Medicine as a lab assistant.

“She was the best and will be greatly missed,” said John Reilly, another former president of the Morris Park Community Association. “She was with the association from the beginning.”

Reach reporter Patrick Rocchio at (718) 742-3393 or procchio@cnglocal.com