Paige Aiello Remembered As 'Amazing Person, Loved by All'

Hundreds gathered at The Unitarian Church in Summit on Tuesday to pay their respects to the late Paige Aiello, a 21-year-old aspiring law student whose body was recovered from the Hudson River on May 9.

Though the two-hour service was billed as a celebration, boxes of tissues were passed as the tears began to overcome the smiles of remembrance.

Aiello was last seen by her family on April 9. That evening, her father reported her missing after being notified that her purse and personal items were found on the south walkway of the upper level of the George Washington Bridge. The following day, police located the family’s Audi in the Gateway parking garage in New Brunswick.

The discoveries led New York investigators to conduct a search of the bridge and the Hudson River area with assistance from the U.S. Coast Guard, New York Police Department Patrol and Aviation Units.

Aiello’s family spent weeks searching for the missing woman, using social media sites such as a Find Paige Aiello Facebook page.

One classmate at the College of New Jersey, according to Aiello’s father Christopher, spent all of his spare time searching the streets of New York City for her.

But after a body was found in the Hudson River, Somerset County Prosecutor Geoffrey Soriano said, the New York Medical Examiner's Office used dental records to identify Aiello.

'Sweet, Pure and Honest'

The tone of Tuesday’s service was set by Aiello’s sister Erin, who recalled Paige both as a younger sister when they were planning Thanksgiving dinner or family vacations and as a “best friend” when they went together to the mall, concerts and parties.

“You could say anything to her without judgment,” Erin said. 

Her aunt, Alyssa Aiello, said Paige was always “the baby of the family” who was “sweet, pure and honest” and a “capable and responsible young woman.”

Paige Aiello’s friends echoed those words, calling her “passionate, loyal and genuine. Friends said that her smile could “light up a room” and that she “always went out of the way to please everyone” and “had a heart of gold.” Paige “cared for everyone she came in contact with.” 

“Thank you for everything you gave to us,” a friend said.

Hillsborough High School tennis coach Larry Johnson remembered Paige at 7 years old just coming to watch at the tennis courts.

“Everybody was just happy to see her,” Johnson said.

At Hillsborough High School, Aiello, a member of the Class of 2009, was captain of the girls varsity tennis team and editor-in-chief of the yearbook. She was also co-captain of the varsity tennis team at The College of New Jersey, where she earned her bachelor’s degree with a 3.68 GPA. During her four years at the college, she was honored as a scholar-athlete every semester as well as being named to the Dean’s List.

There was an empty chair in her memory at the college’s commencement last week; Aiello, who had been accepted by all nine law schools she applied to, was going to follow her father and aunt into the legal profession by attending Rutgers School of Law in Newark in the fall.

“She was an amazing person,” Johnson said. “She would make people feel better.

“If she were here today,” the coach continued, “she would be trying to make you feel better.”

Before leading the congregation in the Hillsborough team’s respect chant, Johnson said simply, “Paige Aiello was my angel.”

'Forever 21'

But, in the end, it was Aiello’s father Christopher who delivered the most stirring and emotional tribute.

He expressed gratitude to all those who supported the Aiello family after Paige was reported missing. He thanked those who had created prayer groups throughout New Jersey and the United States to pray for her safe return home and he thanked all those, including some in Australia and Korea, who displayed peach-colored ribbons in a show of solidarity for the family.

“Paige was loved by all,” he said. “She was caring, honest, trustworthy and revered by all.”

Her smile and laughter were “contagious,” he said, adding in a voice that often broke that they would be embedded forever in his head, heart and soul.

Paige Aiello’s story should be a precautionary tale for parents who he said should be “vigilant on their over-achieving children.” He said the family may never “find the precipitating event” that led to Paige’s death.

Struggling young people should talk to parents, teachers and counselors “so that premature celebrations like this will not occur,” Christopher Aiello said.

He remembered that his daughter was always the guide on family vacations because of her innate sense of direction.

“But that sense of direction could not lead you out of the darkness,” he said.

The family asks that memorial donations be made to the Out of Darkness Organization at afsp.org (American Foundation for Suicide Prevention), Bianca’s Kids at biancanaskids.org or to The Unitarian Church in Summit.

”Paige, you will be forever 21,” her father said.