On a rainy Sunday afternoon, neighbors, elected leaders and family members of the late community activist, Mary Vallati, gathered to honor her with the co-naming of the street she resided on.

Councilman Andrew Cohen attended and, with help from Vallati’s son Dennis Vallati, and granddaughter Jamie McCauley-Iacocca, pulled the brown covering from underneath the East Mosholu Parkway South and Perry Avenue sign to reveal “Mary Vallati Place.”

“I think this is a perfect tribute to her commitment, the really lifelong commitment to this community,” Cohen said at the street co-naming on Sept. 9. “I’m really grateful, and I know that all of you are grateful for everything she did.”

Vallati passed away Sept. 12 last year at the age of 102. Born and raised near a farm in Illinois, Vallati moved to the Bronx when she was a teenager. The community activist, characterized as cheerful with an unusual sense of independence, spent the rest of her life in the borough, coming into advocacy upon retirement from a telephone company.

Vallti was largely recognized for her work with the Bedford Mosholu Community Association (BMCA), the 52nd Precinct Community Council, and her unwavering determination to show up when no one else would.

Cohen affirmed his commitment to preserving the memory of community leaders like Vallati through commemorative honors like street co-namings. “I cannot tell you how many people appreciate them, the family appreciates it, and how appropriate I feel it is for people who really had an impact on a corner like this, on a small block, on our community,” said Cohen. “[People] that really touched us on a granular level and make the neighborhood a better place. And I think Mary really, really embodied that.”

The street co-naming was in the works months after she passed. For many, Vallati was emblematic of the kind of neighborhood commitment residents should aspire to be.

“She was always very concerned about what was happening around her,” said Barbara Stronczer, BMCA president and Community Board 7’s Parks Committee chair, which covers Norwood and Bedford Park.

Recalling a protest against the closing of the Bedford Park C-Town, Stronczer said, “When they closed the supermarket on 204th and Valentine [Avenue], and then-Assemblyman Jeff Klein, who covered this area, said he would be out there with Channel 12 at seven in the morning.”

Stronczer continued: “Most of us had to go to work, but it was Mary who got out there with him, in front of the TV camera and did what she had to do.” The unseasonably chilly and wet weather during the Sept. 9 ceremony didn’t stop a host of lawmakers from personally stopping by to regale Vallati. Alongside Cohen, Assembly members José Rivera, of the 75th Assembly District representing Bedford Park, and Nathalia Fernandez of the 80th Assembly District representing Norwood shared stories of Vallati’s activism, and her never-ending devotion to her neighborhood.

Assemblyman Jeffrey Dinowitz of the 81st Assembly District representing Riverdale also attended the ceremony, alongside his son Eric Dinowitz.

Brenda Caldwell-Paris, of the 52nd Precinct Community Council called Vallati a “treasure,” and described the loss the community feels with her absence.

“Mary was full of wonderful, wonderful stories,” Caldwell-Paris said. “Those who didn’t know her missed out on some of the great stories she was willing to tell.”

“She was so independent,” Sheila Sanchez, president of the Northwest Bronx Democrats told the Norwood News of Vallati. Sanchez met Vallati when she was 95, describing her as a kind-hearted woman who put community first. Recalling one of her and Vallati’s regular trips to the farmers market, Sanchez related, “On one occasion, I had a problem with my back, so I told her to wait for me because I want to help her cross the street, but she didn’t wait for me.”

“I see Commander (Joseph) Dowling [formerly of the 52nd Precinct] stopping right next to her and he says, ‘What are you doing by yourself crossing a long street? You are not supposed to be alone.’”

Sanchez continued: “I say, ‘Commander, she’s with me.’ Mary was laughing and said to him, ‘See, I am never alone.’”

Sanchez’s impassioned sermon for her friend and neighbor who continues to inspire her highlighted Vallati’s community work, which Sanchez hopes other residents will continue.

“Get engaged,” Sanchez said. “Local community is important, to know who’s next to you. Mary would say, if you love your neighborhood, if you want to have a good life, then you have to study very hard and go to the meetings, so you can learn what needs to be done.”

The family has since moved out of the neighborhood. But McCauley-Iacocca affirmed the significance of East Mosholu Parkway to her grandmother. Relating her memories of the parkway, McCauley-Iacocca said, “We had a lot of great memories on this street. We’d read or I’d run around the park. Or we’d walk, which was new for me since in the suburbs we don’t walk.”

As customary in street co-naming events, Vallati’s family was given a duplicate street sign bearing Vallati’s name.

For Stronczer, the street sign bears a metaphorical philosophy—Vallati was a person you can look up to. Her presence is now a street sign you can look up to.

“She certainly was a role model for all of us,” Stronczer said. “And I think people need to see that you can do things as you age, and generations working together, different generations working together, is the way to do it.”