Andrea L. Capuano

September 19, 1939 – September 4, 2024

Andrea “Drea” Lois Capuano (nee Cutrona,) a beloved mother, daughter, sister, aunt, and grandmother passed away on September 4, 2024, at her home in Washington Township, New Jersey, after a brief, hard-fought battle with lung cancer.

Drea was born in Passaic and grew up a few towns away in Hasbrouck Heights. She was the daughter of Andrew and Rose Cutrona and sister to Joyce. Her father was a carpenter and her mother worked as seamstress. Drea loved her family deeply, and she would always say, “My mother and father were the greatest people in the world.” Drea maintained her high school friendships right up until her passing. She loved the lunches, dinners, or any other gathering with her old high school pals.

Drea graduated from Fairleigh Dickinson University with a degree in teaching. She spent most of her career as a teacher at the Bergen County Jail Annex, teaching inmate’s computer software programs. The thing she was most proud of during her time at the jail was authoring, with her good friend Barbara Astrella, Step by Step, a book about helping newly released inmates enter the workforce. She and Barbara worked tirelessly, with many long nights, until the book was the best it could be. She left the jail after 18 years and spent the rest of her career at Paramus and Teterboro Vocational High Schools. She retired from teaching in 2014 at 74 years old.

Drea was married to Richard Capuano, and had three children – Lisa, Richard, and Steven. She lived and raised her family in Emerson, where she stayed for 48 years. She took great pride in her home, and spent countless hours taking care of the inside and outside. She was a tireless worker. Drea left her Emerson home in 2015 and found a townhouse in Washington Township that needed complete updating. She wasted no time in putting on her junk clothes and got to work. A few years after moving in, and toiling away, she had a beautiful place that she absolutely loved. She also made some deep friendships during her almost 9 years of living in the community, and she cherished them with all her might.

The cherry on top of her cake was her grandchildren, and she did her very best to spoil each of them. There wasn’t a birthday, play, baseball game, holiday, or anything else going on that she missed. Her love for them was one hundred percent unconditional, and they loved her back as much.

Drea was a Jersey shore girl all the way. She loved heading down to the Barnegat Bay to do her crabbing, fishing and clamming with the family. There was very little she enjoyed more than getting out in the middle of the bay and clamming with her son Rich. Her feet on the sandy bottom, on a beautiful, warm, sunny summer day, digging up those Barnegat Bay clams put a smile on her face that had to be seen to be believed. She and her son Rich, and whenever possible the entire family, enjoyed countless dishes of linguine and white clam sauce. For her, life didn’t get any better than that.

Drea leaves behind her children Lisa (Nick) Trapanis, Rich Capuano, Steven (Chrissy) Capuano, and grandchildren Alexandra, Richy, Declan, and Dean.

Drea was loved by her family and friends beyond measure and she will be with them in spirit always.

Rest in peace Drea.