ROCHELLE RUSSELL AULETTA

March 21, 1938 - June 4, 2017

Rochelle Clifton Auletta lived a life full of love and adventure. She passed away on June 4, 2017 at the age of 79 due to complications from pneumonia in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic.

Rochelle Russell Clifton was born March 21, 1938 to Florence Louise Grethe and Henry Elton Clifton in Savannah, Georgia. Throughout her life, Rochelle pursued many interests with passion and zest, including playing the trombone and guitar, singing, horseback riding, swimming, skiing, tennis, the arts — particularly painting--teaching, cooking, and learning foreign languages and cultures, philosophy, religion, and stock trading. Most of all, she dearly loved her family and friends, who remember her for her caring generosity, creativity, fearless drive, southern charm, and infectious laughter.

Rochelle attended Newton High School in Newtonville, Massachusetts, where she excelled as a trombone player, singer, and athlete. She received a Bachelor of Arts degree from La Grange College, Georgia, in 1960, during which time she studied in Canada as an exchange student.

A true pioneer, Rochelle was among the first wave of Peace Corps Volunteers in 1962 to serve in Sierra Leone, West Africa, where she taught history and physical education, including helping disabled children to learn how to swim. In 1965, the La Grange Alumni Association honored Rochelle as an "Outstanding Young Woman of America" for being the first woman from Georgia to serve in the Peace Corps.

When she completed her two years of service in the Peace Corps, Rochelle and a friend hitchhiked throughout parts of Africa and the Middle East in keeping with her bent for adventure and learning about new cultures. Eventually, Rochelle returned to the United States and went on to earn a Master of Arts Degree from the University of Indiana in 1965. She then engaged students in cultural awareness as a history teacher at Vashti High School in Thomasville, Georgia, Holden Junior High in Holden, Massachusetts, Spelman College, and the State University in New Paltz, New York until 1972,

In December 1971, Rochelle married Lucien (Lou) Auletta, whom she met on a ski slope in upstate New York. The four plus decades of their marriage flowed with love and devotion for one-another, an unquenching thirst for knowledge, self-improvement, and adventure. Rochelle and Lou resided in Burlington, Vermont from 1972 to 1987. Among other places outside of the U.S. Rochelle and Lou resided were the Philippines, Singapore, and the Dominican Republic.

Rochelle and Lou moved to Cofresi Cove outside of Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic, in 1988. This proved to be the greatest adventure of Rochelle's life. For more than 25 years, she and Lou courageously pioneered the conversion of an under-developed beach-front area into a bustling attraction for visitors from around the world. Rochelle was instrumental in organizing property owners called La Junta, who advocated for the environmental preservation of the Cove and equitable treatment of their growing community for the benefit of the property owners and the scores of Dominicans who worked for them. This is also where Rochelle and Lou met and adopted Francisca, who they loved and cherished throughout their lives.

Among her many talents, Rochelle was an accomplished painter, which she studied intensively as a member of the Arts Student League from 1972 to 1993. Rochelle mastered portraiture as a professional artist, and even learned to paint left handed when she broke her right hand in a fall from her horse, Tigre. Towards the end of her career, Rochelle became renowned for her abstract and multi-medium works of art, and was the featured artist of an exhibition sponsored by the Casa de Cultura in Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic in 2010.

Rochelle is survived by her daughter Francisca Knevals and son-in-law Eric Knevals, sister Charlotte Kayajanian and brother-in-law Harry Kayajanian, nephew Nishan Kayajanian and his wife Jennifer Kayajanian, niece Kimberly Santos and her husband Joao Santos, great nieces Julia and Nora Santos, step-daughter Jody Auletta and her husband Glenn Doughty, step-son Alfred Auletta and his wife Leila Wong, and grand-daughters Phoebe S. Young and Chloe Auletta Young. Rochelle's beloved husband of 43 years, Lucien Auletta, predeceased her in 2014.

A visitation will be held on Thursday, June 15 ^{th from 4:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Migliaccio Funeral Home, 851 John F. Kennedy Boulevard, Bayonne, New Jersey. A funeral prayer service will be held at the funeral home on Friday, June 16th promptly at 11:00 am with the family gathering at the funeral home beginning at 10:00 am. She will then be laid to rest beside her husband Lou in Holy Cross Cemetery in North Arlington, New Jersey. Condolences may be sent to the family at www.migliacciofuneralhome.com .}