Yolanda Viggiano

On the morning of Wednesday, (January 31, 2007), Yolanda Viggiano of Wethersfield, loving mother, mother-in-law, grandmother, great-grandmother and community leader and educator, died peacefully at her home. She was preceded in death by her husband, Fred J. Viggiano, Sr. her sisters Lucy Scata and Theresa Cosma and her brother, Nicholas Visone. Born Iolanda Visone on June 17, 1922 in Hartford, the daughter of Antonio and Generosa Visone, Yolanda learned perseverance and fortitude at a young age. During the Depression, she dropped out of high school to assist her father and brother in running Visone's Market, an Italian grocery store on Franklin Avenue in Hartford. Shortly after the end of the war, she met her husband Fred, who frequently visited Visone's Market. They had their first date on New Year's Eve in 1946 and married nine months later. In the 1950s, after the birth of her fourth son, she went back to school to earn her high school diploma. She later earned her college diploma from the University of Connecticut, where she graduated with honors in 1968 at the age of 46, only three years after the birth of her daughter. In 2005, at the age of 82, she retired from the Hartford Public School System, where she taught high school English in that system's adult education program, the very program that allowed her to get her high school diploma. As a community leader throughout her adult years, Yolanda sat on and chaired a variety of committees and boards. These included the Wethersfield Library Board, the Hartford Chapter of the Boys Town of Italy, the PTA of South Catholic High School and St. Augustine School. Yolanda was also a member of the St. Augustine Rosary Society and the Democratic Women's Club. Never forgetting her Italian roots, she lived a well-rounded life with much of its focus on family gatherings. Her tireless work in preparing Thanksgiving and Christmas dinners created an abundance of memories for the large and loving family she has left behind. That family includes four sons and daughters-in-law: Joseph and Janet Viggiano of Rocky Hill, Anthony and Sharon Viggiano of Groton Long Point, Fred Jr., and Mary Viggiano of Old Lyme, and David and Shirley Viggiano of Glastonbury. She also leaves a daughter and son-in-law, Jacqueline and Robert Scott of Baltimore, Md. Her grandchildren include Jennifer Viggiano- Grosse, and Brendan Viggiano, Erin Viggiano, Christopher Viggiano, Nicole Moleti and her husband, Daniel, Robert Viggiano, Alisha Viggiano, and Carlton and Natalie Scott. She also leaves five great grandsons and her sisters-in-law, Rose Graziadei and Mary Visone. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Saturday at 9:30 AM at the Church of the Incarnation, 544 Prospect Street, Wethersfield. All those attending please go directly to the church. The burial will be in Cedar Hill Cemetery, Hartford. Calling hours are Friday from 4-8 p.m. at the D'Esopo Funeral Chapel, 277 Folly Brook Blvd, Wethersfield. Donations in Yolanda's memory may be made to the Wethersfield Library, 515 Silas Deane Highway, Wethersfield, CT 06109. For on line expressions of sympathy please visit www.desopo.com