Sleepy Hollow Honors “Chick” Galella with a Stone-Mounted Plaque

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The new plaque next to the RiverWalk gazebo in Sleepy Hollow

July 13, 2024

By Barrett Seaman–

Scores of friends, family and officials gathered under iffy skies Saturday morning, July 13^th, to honor Sleepy Hollow’s favorite son, Armando “Chick” Galella. A stone bearing a plaque was placed near the gazebo at the corner of RiverWalk—not far from the monument at Horan’s Landing honoring Chick’s boyhood friend, John Horan. Like Chick, John was at Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941 when the Japanese attacked—except John never made it home, while Chick went on to serve in the Army, from Pearl Harbor, where the war began, through Okinawa, the last ground battle of the war.

At the unveiling, emceed by Chick’s son Armando Jr., the Tappan Zee Bridgemen brass band played the State Spangled Banner and God Bless America. The honor guard from the Sleepy Hollow Fire Department, where Chick once served as chief, presented the colors. State Senate Majority Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins, who recalls dancing with Chick virtually every time she set foot in the village, said of him, “His heart was bigger than the span of the river.”

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A crowd gathers by the gazebo under iffy skies

Congressman Mike Lawyer brought with him a proclamation from the House of Representatives. Mt. Pleasant Town Supervisor Carl Fulgenzi recalled how his dad had served with Chick in World War II and the two would meet and share war stories. When Chick left the Army at the end of the war with a Bronze Starr, his rank was Battalion Sergeant Major—the highest for an enlisted soldier.

As one speaker after another recounted, after the war until he died at age 100 three years ago, Chick left mark after mark in Sleepy Hollow. He was a trustee of the village, deputy mayor once, scout leader, fire chief and fundraiser for his church, Immaculate Conception. As Sara Mascia, president of the Historical Society, noted, “He knew he had survived for a reason.”

Chick’s great grandchildren among the many Galella family members present

Honoring all those who had served their country was one of the more important reasons. He provided the impetus for creating Horan’s Landing in honor of his childhood friend, as well as the statue of his mother Margaret, who stands at the apex of the park, looking out over the Hudson. He was behind the creation of the Gold Star Mother’s statue in Patriots Park and the tradition of planting American flags on the hillside below the high school on Veterans and Memorial Days.

In addition to the plaque, the section of the Riverwalk from Horan’s Landing to the south end of Edge-on-Hudson is marked by two signs designating the stretch as Armando “Chick” Galella RoiverWalk.