Cecelia E. Lucente

Cecelia E. Lucente, age 69, of Grants Pass, died April 8, 2021 at home.

Cecile was born in Manhattan, and grew up in Masbeth, Queens, in New York City. She attended Christ the King Regional High School where she was a student athlete and scholar. After high school, she attended Hunter College (CUNY) and graduated in 1973 with a BA in education, specializing in Health and Physical Education. Later that same year, she would be married at Holy Cross Catholic Church in Queens. She would then go on to teach at a few schools around the New York area and coached several sports. She was proud of the championship volleyball teams that she coached. After Cecile had been working for a few years, she and her husband moved to Grants Pass, OR in 1977. She started teaching for Grants Pass School District 7 doing credit retrieval and substitute teaching. She would go on to teach for Three Rivers, Medford, and Central Point school districts and Southern Oregon ESD as well as alternative education centers in Grants Pass and Medford, and the Grants Pass Campus of Rogue Community College, where she served a term as the chair of the Health and PE department. She also co-founded His & Hers Towing with her husband which operated until the early 2000s, and Cecile was one of the only female tow truck drivers in the country at the time. In fact, she drove her tow truck to New York to hook up her brother Al's 1969 Corvette and towed it back to Grants Pass, which incidentally she was awarded the Long Haul Award for the longest cross country tow, by herself. Cecile would also go on to work for the Oregon Department of Transportation as a traffic counter. Cecile retired in 2014 but continued to substitute teach until her death.

Cecile volunteered with the Rogue River cleanup. Her hobbies included building, traveling, animals, and cooking.

Survivors include her son Nick Famoso of Mount Vernon, Oregon; brother Al Lucente, Jr.; her pets, horses Cisco and Shadow; 27 chickens; house cat Delilah; 7 barn cats; and 4 dogs Buster, Lucy, Alexis and Jake; and granddog Rey.

She was preceded in death by her father Al Lucente, Sr., mother Mary Lucente, and brother Robert Lucente.

Remembrances in her name may be made to Oregon Horse Rescue.

Family services will be held outside at Cecelia’s home and over Zoom, Sat., May 8, 2021 at 12 p.m. Email clucenteservice@gmail.com for address or Zoom link.