Getting to Know You; Jeannie Quattrocchi, Public Administration Specialist at GRADD

Jeannie Quattrocchi, of Lewisport, is very happy to now be serving the community where she grew up. In October 2022, she started her job as Public Administration Specialist at Green River Area Development District (GRADD) in Owensboro, and is serving Hancock County.

She is a 2015 graduate of HCHS, and completed one year at University of Kentucky, before transferring to Kentucky Wesleyan College in 2016, double-majoring in History and Political Science.

Jeannie was a member of Alpha Omicron Pi Sorority, and the Vice President of Communications during her junior and senior years at KWC. She was V.P. of the Panhellenic Association for her sorority, V.P. of the History Club and V.P. of the Stanley Reed Political Science Society. She was also a member of Phi Alpha Theta Honor Society, and graduated Magna Cum Laude, with a Bachelor’s in History and Political Science.

“I loved KWC,” she said, “I went to UK my first year, and being from such a small town, it just wasn’t for me. I transferred to KWC, and it was kind of like coming back to a small community like Hancock County. I got to know all of my professors and everyone I graduated with.” Dr. Conroy and Dr. Horrell, she said, were her favorite professors there.

She moved to Birmingham, Alabama, where her brother, Matthew Quattrocchi, was earning his degree in pharmacy, and the two were roommates while she earned her Master’s Degree in Public Administration at University of Alabama.

She and Matthew have a shared hobby of going to music concerts, and went to many in nearby cities together while studying in Birmingham. “That’s our big thing,” she said. “We loved going to concerts and still do. We’ve seen so many bands.”

Jeannie’s mom is Donna Quattrocchi, who has served on the Hancock County Board of Education for many years. Her grandparents, the late Bill & Jean Shutt, both passed away last year.

“My grandpa got sick, and that was one of the main reasons I decided to come home after earning my master’s degree,” she said, “because I wanted to spend more time with him. Then, my grandma also got sick, as well as my mom. While I was in the hospital with my mom, I saw a job opening for GRADD. I applied and had my interview with Blake Edge, Director of Community & Economic Development, and it went really well.

Joanna Shake (Executive Director of GRADD) came out to the hospital to interview me for my second interview. That’s what made me really want to join GRADD, because not a lot of employers would come out and interview you at the hospital.

I was really excited about being able to serve Hancock and Daviess Counties. We serve 7 counties, so I’ve gotten to learn a lot about the other counties that we work with as well. We get out in the counties a lot, and it’s nice to drive through and see the other communities around us in the region.”

It was September of 2022 when Jeannie’s mom got sick with pneumonia, became septic and was hospitalized. She was in the hospital for almost 4 months. She had to be put on a ventilator twice, and had to have two different surgeries.

“She had to relearn to walk and everything,” Jeannie said. “She’s doing really well now. She’s made a lot of progress. We used to have physical therapy 3 or 4 times a week, but now she’s doing everything, basically, on her own. A lot of the doctors didn’t think that it would’ve turned out this way, and we’re really, really thankful.”

Jeannie moved back in with her mom in Lewisport to help take care of her. “Matthew got his residency in Evansville and it was difficult for him to go back and forth,” she said. “There’s only two of us. So, I’m glad I had the opportunity to work in Owensboro.

I mainly work a lot with the city clerks. I help aid them in whatever they need. We serve the counties. If we have a grant come open, I will send it out to the city clerks and the judge/executive’s assistant to let them know the opportunities that are available to them. Usually, we can find a grant for just about anything. We’re there to help and serve and answer questions.

One of the main grants that I’m doing right now is the Land & Water Conservation Fund. It does a lot, and the main thing is creating or renovating parks. Hancock County was awarded the grant last year, and it allotted monies toward the new splash pad at Vastwood.

I was excited to see it, because I’m going to help administrate the project. I’m excited to work in my community. Most kids in Hancock County went to Vastwood growing up, so it’s just cool to be able to make it better, renovate it and make updates to it, for kids now, and in the future.”

Growing up in Lewisport, she said she really enjoyed playing with her brother and their cousin, Raelynn Wigginton Haycraft (Brent & Renee Wigginton’s daughter). “Our grandma was our daycare during the summers,” she said. “We were all within three years of each other in age. We always had somebody to play with during our elementary school days.

My Papaw Bill was my best friend. He was a big part of my life. He was my biggest supporter. He never met a stranger, and he was really active in the community. He was a volunteer firefighter for Lewisport Volunteer Fire Department, and retired from Commonwealth.

Up until he passed away, if I was home and he was going out of the house to go to the doctor or run errands, he would say, ‘Jeannie, you want to tag along?’ He would always fill my gas tank up, even if we only went 5 miles. He was just that type of guy.

He was a talker, and we’d be out for an hour talking to whoever in the county we’d run into that he knew. He would have me tag along with him when I was a child growing up, as well. He made me more sociable, because he would have me join in on his conversations with people in the community.”

In her spare time, Jeannie loves traveling to concerts with her best friend, Selena Coalter, from Owensboro. They met at KWC through their sorority, and have been best friends ever since.

“We travel a lot for concerts,” she said. “We go to concerts once a month or every other month. We’re going to see Taylor Swift at Nissan Stadium in Nashville together soon. We’ve gone to Chicago, Atlanta and New York City. Our love of music has helped us travel a little bit more.”

She also enjoys working out and reading. She works out with a group fitness class 4-5 days a week at a new gym in Owensboro, Orangetheory Fitness, and said she really likes it.

Jeannie has two pets that she loves dearly, and both are rescues. One is her cat, Topanga, who she found when she was in seventh grade. She was watching her cousin play softball during summer league at Vastwood and Topanga was caught in one of the nets. She brought the brown, tabby cat home and has had her as an animal friend for 12 years now.

Her dog, Trooper, is a 3-legged beagle that she had seen posted on the Hancock County Animal Shelter’s Facebook page her senior year of high school. Jeannie’s brother found out that she wanted to adopt Trooper, and a few weeks before Christmas 2014, he secretly adopted him for her.

“Sage Petrie Young (Hancock County Fiscal Court Clerk & Judge/Executive Assistant) had been fostering Trooper when he had to have his front, left leg amputation surgery and was recovering. Matthew brought him to the house early Christmas morning, woke me up and surprised me,” Jeannie said. “He was 3 when we got him, and now he’s an old man. When he was younger, his missing leg didn’t really affect him at all. He could run like a normal dog. And, he’s still doing well now.”

By Jennifer Wimmer