YANKEE STADIUM DREAM COMES TRUE AT 90

Senior program and superfan’s sister make for a day to remember

NEW MILFORD — If the Yankees are playing, Alba D’Aloise is watching.

It doesn’t matter if she’s in the middle of lunch with a friend, the 90-yearold will get up in a flurry to settle in next to the TV. She never misses a game and sometimes even turns on reruns if nothing else is on.

“She knows every single player, every play they’ve ever had, every goof up, every error,” said Melissa Marici, director of community outreach at Candlewood Valley Health and Rehabilitation, where D’Aloise has lived for the past five years.

The former administrative assistant for The Associated Press is passionate about a lot of things, and the Yankees are one of them.

“When they’re on TV, I’m always watching them, and yelling at them if they don’t get a hit,” D’Aloise said.

So when Wish of a Lifetime, a program started in 2008 that helps seniors realize their lifelong dreams, reached out to the Candlewood Valley staff, they knew just the person.

The program, now affiliated with AARP, aims to relieve isolation among the older generation and celebrate their passions by giving them something to look forward to, engage with and remember for years to come.

D’Aloise is unmarried and never had children, but is close with her family and younger sister, Vera, who lives in New Fairfield, Marici said. With the pandemic, she hadn’t seen Vera in eight months.

Usually the program grants between 200 to 250 wishes a year, but the pandemic has brought those numbers down significantly, according to Tom Wagenlander, executive director of Wish of a Lifetime. The program received D’Aloise’s application last year, but Wagenlander said they waited until this spring when she could get vaccinated and fans were allowed back in the stadium.

D’Aloise’s dedication to the Yankees and the fact she hadn’t seen her sister since August provided the perfect opportunity: a Sunday ballgame at the stadium and a surprise visit with Vera.

“I’ve grown up a Yankee fan and I’ll die a Yankee fan,” D’Aloise said. “But I intend to hang around for a while.”

A lifelong fan

Staff at Candlewood Valley described D’Aloise as a

highly social, beloved leader, a mentor to young women, and someone who is always watching or reading something interesting.

Marici said D’Aloise is vivacious. “She’s always looking for tomorrow, always looking for something fun.”

She’s also a through-andthrough New Yorker.

D’Aloise grew up in the Bronx and was introduced by her older brother to the Yankees as a teenager. The last game she attended was on July 18, 1999 — when David Cone pitched a perfect game. It’s one she can still recall clearly.

But years of living in a nursing home and a bad fall kept her from going in person since then. But 21 years, nine months and a worldwide pandemic later, D’Aloise got to go see her team play again with her sister by her side.

On April 18, a car carrying Vera arrived in New Milford to pick up D’Aloise for the trek to the new Yankee Stadium.

“They’ve shown up for us on numerous wishes over the years,” Wagenlander said of the Yankees’ cooperation. “It was so cool to see what they did for Alba on this wish.”

Dressed in a new Yankees T-shirt with a hot dog in hand, D’Aloise settled in to watch her team play the Tampa Bay Rays.

“I had a beautiful day, I would have been happy if they won,” D’Aloise joked the day after. “I think the Rays have their number. They swept them.”

Despite the loss, D’Aloise said she loved getting to see the new stadium — something she hadn’t been able to do before Sunday.

“I always wanted to see it. The new stadium is wonderful,” she said.

She particularly liked the photos of old players displayed in one section of the stadium, as she’s seen a lot of them come and go. Her favorite team is still the one under Joe Torre, who managed the team from 1996 to 2007, and can still name many of those who played under him: Paul O’Neill, Tino Martinez, Derek Jeter.

She also has a soft spot for Andy Pettitte, the standout pitcher whose No. 46 was retired by the team.

With new stats, plays and memories for her to store away, the special event seemed to work its magic. On Monday, D’Aloise sat reading one of her gifts, the New York Yankees Official Yearbook, telling staff how energetic she felt. By early afternoon, she had made it to Derek Jeter’s section.

“She’s so bright today,” Marici said.

Photo courtesy of Candlewood Valley Health and Rehabilitation Alba D'Aloise, 90, has been a Yankees fan since her teens. Now living in New Milford, the New York native is dedicated to her favorite baseball team.

Photo courtesy of Candlewood Valley Separated because of the pandemic, Alba D’Aloise, of New Milford, and her sister, Vera, of New Fairfield, reunite for a Yankees game.

Photo courtesy of Candlewood Valley Health and Rehabilitation Alba D’Aloise and the staff at the senior living home, Candlewood Valley Health and Rehabilitation. D’Aloise was granted a wish with "Wish of a Liftetime" through AARP to go see the Yankees play in person for the first time since 1999.