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The Walworthians: Judy Zappia

Judy Zappia, Home-Made-Easy

June 24, 1999

Judy Zappia of Newark is a courageous lady who has the will to make a way. Her children were just 6 and 10 when she lost her ability to speak. She could no longer read a bedtime story to them, call them in for lunch, tell them to clean up their room, or even talk on the telephone.

Judy had been working at Columbia Bank for 15 years when she lost her voice.

“At first, you think it’s just a cold,” Zappia said. “You know it will get better, but it didn’t. Then the doctors found a lump near my vocal chords. It was very scary.”

Judy grew up in Brooktondale, a small town near Ithaca, and attended Auburn Community College where she met Gerald, her husband, in 1973.

Judy studied Elementary Education and eventually taught in the Ithaca Headstart Pre-school/Day Care for two years. She and Gerald were married on August 14, 1976.

They are blessed with Theresa Marie, now 18 and the 1999 recipient of the Col. William Prescott Chapter, National Society of the Daughters of the American Revolution’s Good Citizen Award, and John, now 14.

Fortunately, more X-rays and tests showed the lump was a second set of tonsils and what cause her voice loss was an apparent virus that had settled in her vocal chords. She learned to force air through her vocal chords producing grunts and air sounds, but no speech.

“John was 6 and would test me by saying he didn’t hear me,” Zappia said. “I sat him down and got him to understand that he’d just have to figure out what I said.”

She discovered that she could use a bell to call the children in from play and get their attention with a clap and, to this day, she doesn’t have to raise her voice to them because “I can say it with a look!”

Judy was put on and off various medications and numerous voice therapy routines, including voice rest, but came to accept that she wasn’t going to be able to return to her bank job.

In 1991, her medical disability ended and she began to look around for something she could do that didn’t require a lot of talking.

The Employment agency couldn’t find anything for her, typing wasn’t her thing and computers weren’t an option. She realized it would be up to her to create her own job.

“I thought about my love of food and cooking,” she said. “Catering, crossed my mind but I didn’t want it to cut into my family time.”

Home-Made-Easy is the name of her home-based business. She does the measuring and most of the work, then you add a few ingredients to finish making main dishes (chicken and rice or meat loaf), etc. and dessert(s  apple crisp, fruit dessert, cookies, or an  oatmeal cake).

The results are delicious, wholesome home-made goodies made easy.

“One lady called me in a panic,” Zappia recalled, “She wanted to stock up on Apple Crisp, because the previous night, she’d served it to her husband and he said, ‘Well, you’ve finally figured out how to make it right.’  It took her months to work up enough nerve to tell him it was from a box!”

Around the time she turned 40, she read Jean Carper’s Stop Ageing Now. Carpr does a column in the Sunday weekend section on vitamin supplements. Zappia began a regime of multi-vitamins and within 2 months her voice began to gradually return. The doctors called in a coincidence, but the end result is that she can talk again!

Zappia continues as a successful entrepreneur with Home-Made-Easy products, which retail for $1.75 to $3.25. They are available in Canandaigua, Dobbins in Newark and soon other outlets or give her a call at 331‑1360.

Hone-Made-Easy is perfect for working folks who don’t have the time, college students who don’t know how to cook, and, older folks who don’t keep an over-abundance of ingredients on hand. They are even great to use in the e-z bake oven on those rainy days you need to entertain visiting youngsters.

Toward the end of our telephone interview, I asked Judy what words of wisdom she could pass on to others who are caught in an apparently hopeless, traumatic situation.

“Go with your heart,” she said. “There are a lot of negative people; try to find the best of your situation; and hang on to the people who encourage you.”

 

2018 Up-Date” Judi isn’t techinically a Walworthians, however, several people ave used her services.

 
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