Recordpub.com - ALONG THE WAY: Bill Wolcott

By Bill Wolcott

Graduation time is just around the corner. Many of us have someone we know or a relative graduating from either high school or college.

One busy Kent lady is really going to have her hands full with four grandchildren going through graduation. This includes two from college and two from high school, including one in Florida, and they represent each of her children.

Helen Visca's oldest son, Geary, and his wife, Cindy, of Fairlawn will have a May graduation for their son, Justin, from Kent State University. Their other son, Jared, goes to Stark Tech.

Son Mike Visca and his wife, Vicky, who live in Valrico, Fla., are having two graduations. Daughter Brittany is graduating from the University of Southern Florida in accounting on May 5 and their son, Gregory, will graduate from high school. He plans to become a priest and has been accepted at St. John Vianney Seminary.

Mike is a corporate controller for a chemical company in Florida.

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Helen's daughter, Sue Westfall, and her husband, Mark, who works for United Parcel Service, will have a graduation for their daughter, Heather, who is graduating from Stow-Munroe Falls High School on June 4.

Heather is going to go to Kent State University in the fall.

Helen retired from the Kent City Schools last year after 30 years on the job, mostly as the secretary-receptionist for the Board of Education offices.

It is probably a good thing she has retired with four grandchildren graduating in the next couple of months, but she just takes it in stride and even does some substituting at the board office.

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Helen is originally from Ravenna, the daughter of Guy and Mary Grace Chionchio. Longtime Ravenna friends will remember when her parents ran the Royal Castle, a restaurant and bar on Main Street.

She graduated from Ravenna High School in 1944 and went to work at Twin Coach Co. as a secretary. She was there until 1950, when the bus company closed.

That was where she met her husband, Albert Visca.The couple were married in 1947 and had Geary in 1951.

Al also left Twin Coach and became a car inspector for the Erie Railroad and Helen stayed home with the children when they were young.

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She then took a part-time job at Huntington Bank working as a teller at the West Side branch. "Al died in 1969 and Kenny Adolph, an officer at Huntington gave me a full-time job," said Helen.

This job lasted for seven years and in October 1976 Helen started at the Board of Education office, which then was located on Gougler Avenue. "Kenny Cardinal was assistant superintendent and hired me," she added.

During her 30 years at the board office Helen worked for four different superintendents: Dr. Robert Stanton, Cardinal, Donna Lightel and Marc Crail.

"I really loved working at the board office because they were a wonderful group of people to work with," she said. "I enjoyed the work and liked the challenge."

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Helen retired last July and admits she does miss the job and people. She now volunteers one morning a week at the Robinson Memorial Surgery Center in Kent and is a longtime member of St. Patrick Church in Kent.

She also enjoys taking daily walks in her neighborhood and said she also loved doing her own yard work "until the kids made me stop."

Now she is spending a lot of her time planning for the graduation of four grandchildren this spring and really loves every minute of it.