Vito Lochiatto moved to South Amboy in 2021. Upon seeing the Great Bed’s Lighthouse, he thought, “I would love to restore the beauty of her.”
It is truly no surprise.
Vito has worked in the construction industry from his early teenage years. Hence, desiring to make improvements on a structure was a natural thinking process.
He grew up Edison, and lived with his mom, dad, and two sisters until he left for college in the early 1980s. Although he always had a natural affinity for the outdoors, once graduating from high school, he pursued a college education at New Jersey State College and succeeded to earn a degree in criminal justice with a minor in child psychology.
After completing the internship in his credited field, he chose to return home and focus on the business that his father had created in 1955.
As Vito’s father Emil aged, Vito took proprietorship of his father’s hard-earned business and has owned and operated LoChiatto Paving and Masonry since 1987. He revamped and successfully expanded the company to create a fair and trusted thriving business in his and surrounding communities today, building a great pride and legacy for his father.
He has worked diligently and uncompromisingly in the construction field, yet never lost the yearning for the beautiful, outdoors, and all its natural beauty which brought him to his interest in the South Amboy Lighthouse.
It is truly a collision and binding of forces. His knowledge of construction and love of nature is a combined and powerful unity.
He saw her beauty and recognized it had faded, a common thread which many of us are familiar with.
He has made it a mission, a goal, to restore the Greatbeds Lighthouse (South Amboy Lighthouse) to her grand glory. After all, her lights remain blinking, guiding navigational headlight ways, even though she is tired.
Standing tall in the waters of the Raritan, Vito was taken by her undeniable strength, making it a goal to purchase it, with support from Eddie Iarrapino, beginning a restoration project for individuals to enjoy in the future.
As always, he wants to pay it forward for the community and people all around.
He looked at the Great Beds Lighthouse and was committed to making sure she would not be forgotten.
It is his passion to restore the beautiful fixture, so she will not be a life gone by.
She can and will stand tall, once again, in her glory.
