Violet Kiss:
CLASS OF 1967
St. Benedict High SchoolClass of 1967
Highland park, MI
St. Martin De Porres High SchoolClass of 1968
Detroit, MI
Violet's Story
Violet Kiss
St. Benedict High School '67 - '68
Hello Friends! It's been a long road since the 1950's. Both of my parents were sponsored to SW Detroit by a Catholic Hungarian community (known as 'Delray' back then) since my Father was a Hungarian Officer and a degreed Engineer. They were displaced aliens from Hungary via Austria following WWII. I was their first-born. They divorced when I was only three. Learned some English at age 7, or should I say, 'forced to', smile, by Mother Superior at St. Benedict's or I could not enter first grade. I remember how much I was teased (bullied?) in that first year or two. Did I get even? You bet; I not only became fluent by third grade, lost my accent, and ended up as an English major. Jumping ahead, I spent the next 11 years at St. Ben's. Knowing I could not graduate in 1968 with my class due to the closing of my very loved St. Ben's, I went to St. Martin de Porres as their first graduation class of 1968. Since I spent those first 11 years at St. Benedict, I hope no one is offended listing myself as graduating there in 1967 where I grew up with most of my friends and acquaintances. BTW, if I had learned enough English the year before, I would have been with you in 1967. I want to thank you all for being part of my extended family, it was, and is very appreciated. I will never forget. You want to hear about being ignorant? I turned down two full-boat scholarships to Marygrove College and the Air Force. I was not aware or did not reach out for any advice. Yes, I do have perfect 20/20 hindsight! So instead, piecemeal education occurred at Oakland University over 6 years as I had to pay my way through while I worked full-time. I tooled and fooled around so many curricula. I do value the lessons taught, the ability to expand my thoughts, to hone and grow my abilities and possibilities. Today I can still proudly say I am still a lifelong student, ever thirsty for more.
Over the decades I was a small business owner, first in the 70's I was a senior...Expand for more
cost accountant at Farm Crest working with the 10-foot tall Honeywells and soon after planning the computerization of their cost department. Finding out I could not get promoted any higher or have anywhere near equal pay, I left and went with The Equitable (now AXA) first as an agent then building my corporate benefits & pension insurance agency in tandem building my industrial manufacturing representative agency in the 80's as a Sales Engineer. Yes, I am my father's daughter. By the 90's some of my closer business and social friends were becoming the heads of the Tier One's and needed someone to help them with their Senior staffing. So, I became a discrete 'back pocket' C-level recruiter to build their corporate regimes during the huge age of M&As in Detroit. I was exposed a lot to the goings on with these OEMs, including Japan and Germany, there was going to be a huge automotive bubble bursting shortly. This was 1998 and 1999. I closed my insurance agency, went on a sabbatical to Europe for 3 months with my 17-year-old autistic son to decide what I was going to do in 1999 as a 49-year-old, to start over. When we came back, I knew I could not talk about all that I knew so I continued business quietly. Andy, my son, was graduating that winter of 2000 and we decided together on an adventurous trip. We moved to Woodland Hills, CA in December of 2000. And the bubble burst in February 2001.
LONG story short, sorry, I became a partner of a software company in AZ specializing in the fresh produce industry, headed up the sales & marketing departments. After 22 years there, I have recently retired. I am still a part-owner until we sell this small company,
My pride is my son, Andy. Told he would never talk or learn; you should see him now. He talks well, with language impairment. He went to a junior college, got a proficiency certificate for data entry. He is 6 ft and has done well in Special Olympics in swimming and bowling, plays and is a volunteer in our Miracle League here in Arizona.
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