Rita Cavanagh: ‘A tiny little powerhouse’

Ask those who know her best what they think about Rita Cavanagh, and you’ll get a pretty consistent response:

Tiny, but persistent.

Cavanagh, the head of the Baldwin Civic Association’s beautification committee, was the clear choice of Herald readers for our 2015 Person of the Year.

Her persistence has proved necessary for her to accomplish her goals, chief among them the creation of the Baldwin Community Garden. “She’s driven to get these things done,” said her husband of 19 years, John Cochrane. “She has to be persistent. She wants to get things done.”

Creating the garden was no easy feat, said Nassau County Legislator Laura Curran, who worked with Cavanagh to get the project off the ground. “As soon as I took office, she reached out to me,” recalled Curran, who counts Cavanagh as a friend as well as a work partner. “When she brought this up, I thought it was great.”

Together, the two women lobbied county officials for the right to use the property at the Historical Museum, 1980 Grand Ave. “The administration was amenable and open,” Curran said. “In comparison with how most things happen in government, it happened very quickly.”

But she credits Cavanagh, 48, with spearheading the project and seeing it through. “Her heart is in the right place,” Curran said. “People like her. She doesn’t turn people off. I think that’s key to her getting things done.”

Added Kim Taylor, vice president of the civic association, “She’s a tiny little powerhouse, but she sticks with something. If she has support, that’s great, but if she doesn’t, she sticks with it and gets it done.”

Cochrane said that the idea for the garden was an “organic thing” for his wife, an outlet for her artistic side. “I think she thought of this as an art space with sculpture,” he said, “so she thought of it for art.” Instead, it became a garden with art.

Most of the decorative objects in the garden are items that were headed for the trash heap, but Cavanagh repurposed and refurbished them with what Cochran called “country crafting.”

They include a sun sculpture that takes pride of place in the garden. Originally used in a production at Baldwin High School, the sun was about to be trashed when Cavanagh rescued it, persuading maintenance men to bring it to the garden.