Public Employee Press

At 90, a Local 1549 member retires from her second gig

The curtain fell on a long second act for 90-year-old Local 1549 member Theresa Pellicano as she retired Sept. 19 from her career at the New York Police Dept. Pellicano joined the Transit Police in 1981 as a Police Administrative Aide, was promoted to Supervising PAA, and began taking complainants' reports at NYPD Transit District 34, Coney Island, after the Transit Police merged with the NYPD in 1993.

She loved the job and recalled that the brass "treated me regally. I'm very proud of this. A lot of the chiefs and captains were extremely kind to me. I have good memories."

"Up until age 60, I was a performer," she said. She could do full splits until she was 88, and she attributes her unusual agility to her first career as a dancer and a singer. Television was in its infancy when Teri Regis - her stage name - starred in the role first played by Ginger Rogers in "Girl Crazy," the 1930 musical with music by George Gershwin. A review in Billboard magazine noted her strong soprano voice and great dancing. She entertained soldiers and sailors at bases worldwide and appeared on the Major Bose Amateur Hour, one of America's most popular radio shows of the 1930s and '40s.

Born in Buhl, Minn., she moved to New York City with her family at age 3. The youngest of seven children, Pellicano attended P.S. 33 and Walton High in the Bronx. Her husband died in 1993.

"I made a lot of friends on the job. I like the companionship," she reflected as she headed into retirement - the next stage of her life. A night person, she looks forward to sleeping late and other rewards of longevity.

Teri Pellicano has some advice for the young: "Be true to yourself, always think young and never give up exercising!"