Former Emporium Sylvania Employee receives College Degree

PROUD MOMENT

Wiladine Van Wert finally received her college degree and, boy, was that a surprise.The Jackson Township resident graduated from high school in Bradford, Pa., in 1945. She was a National Merit Scholar and was awarded a full scholarship to the University of Pennsylvania, where she majored in zoology and biology.
In 1948, her grandmother became ill and Van Wert left school to care for her. She returned to the university in 1949 and attended through April of her graduation year, when she was offered a job by Sylvania-Emporium, a manufacturer of radio tubes.
“I was there three years before I met my husband to be,” she said. “We got married and he got a job at Eastman Kodak in Rochester, N.Y., so we moved. They offered me a job too, so, I worked there until I got pregnant.”
Recently, her children — Thomas Van Wert of New York, Kim Anderson of Massillon, and Karee White of North Carolina — decided to approach the university on their mother’s behalf.“I knew nothing about it until Kim and her family took me out to dinner and presented me with my diploma,” said Van Wert.
“They told me it was about time I got my diploma since they all had theirs and my husband (now deceased) had his. I never thought about going back and getting it. There was no place I could go and get a job in chemistry anyway.”
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