Yolanda Jean Grula, 87, Class of Morgantown High School 1950, passed away on the evening of June 4, 2019, at an assisted living community in Reading, Massachusetts. She had previously lived with her daughter, Susan, in Lexington, Mass., for seven years, from February 2012 to February 2019, until her daughter became ill and needed surgery.
Yolanda was born on May 5, 1932, in Morgantown, to Angelina and Anthony Scotchel, Italian immigrants from Calabria, Italy. A devout Catholic, Yolanda was an active member of a Catholic church serving Lexington-Waltham, Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted. She also enjoyed concerts and events while visiting other houses of worship, including Hancock United Church of Christ in Lexington and First Parish in Bedford. In addition, Yolanda was a member of the American Legion Auxiliary of Bedford, due to her late husband’s honorable service in the U.S. Air Force.
Yolanda spent her childhood in Morgantown, eagerly going to school, while learning to cook from her mother, who baked bread in outdoor brick ovens and grew beautiful, vast gardens of flowers. Her dad, a coal miner, took care of the chickens in the barn and taught Yolanda how to get water from their well. Yolanda played basketball and won recognition in the local newspaper as the fastest typist in her class. While still in high school, she worked as an administrative assistant to a lawyer and was a waitress at her brother, Frank’s, restaurant, The Brown Derby, where she met her future husband, John, a frequent customer.
Upon graduating from Morgantown High School in 1950, Yolanda was immediately hired for a position at West Virginia University, where she clerked for the assistant to the dean of the Agricultural Department. When the assistant left to marry, Yolanda was promoted into this job. She soon enrolled in classes, and completed almost two years of coursework before deciding to leave school to marry. She and her new husband, John, were adventurous and honeymooned in New York, seeing Broadway shows together. John became an air traffic controller and they decided to raise their children in the suburbs of New York, on Long Island.
Yolanda was a loving wife and devoted mother to her three children, serving in the Parent Teacher Association and as Cub Scout leader. After her children were all in school full time, she also began working outside the home, eventually becoming a licensed real estate broker. She was a hard worker and very successful in this career. She was a Realtor in New York and Florida for almost 50 years.
In addition to her family and work, Yolanda enjoyed golf, tennis and swimming, dancing, playing the piano, painting, sewing, crocheting and traveling. Upon her husband’s retirement they left Long Island, New York, and relocated to Naples, Florida, where they had vacationed for many years and visited family. In 2004, her husband passed and in 2012, Yolanda boldly made another move, at the age of 79, and came to Massachusetts to reside with her daughter, who quit a full time job to become her mother’s companion and caregiver.
In Massachusetts, Yolanda, the life-long learner, successfully completed coursework at Middlesex Community College, and learned Tai Chi. She was a member of four senior centers, and frequently attended art and exercise classes, lectures, and movies, played bingo, sang in two singing groups, danced, played golf and traveled to West Virginia for two high school reunions, Pennsylvania and Vermont, and on senior day trips to Connecticut, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Maine, and throughout Massachusetts. Yolanda will be remembered for her beautiful smile, her courage, kindness, generous nature, sharp mind and love for her friends and family, especially for her daughter, who played such an important role to her in the last seven years, always being an advocate for her mom, just as her mom had always been for her daughter.
Yolanda was preceded in death by John, her loving and devoted husband; and by John Bradley, her beloved teenage grandson; older sisters, Mary and Virginia; and all of her brothers, Frank, Fred, Guy, John, Anthony, Arthur, Louie and Joseph, who lost his life on a submarine while serving in World War II. She is survived by her three children, son Larry (and wife Michelle), daughter, Susan, and son, Richard (and wife Natalie); her three grandchildren, William Tyler, Lauren Nicole and Jake Adam; as well as many friends and other family members, including younger sister Margaret; niece, Angela; nephews, Guy, Joe, Joseph, John and Louie; sisters-in-law, Frances, Josephine and Martha; and all their respective families.
This past week, Yolanda was laid to rest next to her late husband at Naples Memorial Gardens, in the Veterans Field of Honor, in Naples, Florida. A public Catholic memorial mass in Yolanda’s honor will be held at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, July 16, at Our Lady Comforter of the Afflicted Catholic Church, 920 Trapelo Road, Waltham, Massachusetts.
Condolence cards may be sent to: Yolanda’s daughter, Susan, P.O. Box 550171, North Waltham, MA 02455.
In lieu of flowers, please make a donation to Yolanda’s favorite West Virginia scholarship funds below, honoring her great niece, Angela, in memory of Yolanda. http://www.ycfwv.org/ scholarships/ Angela Scotchel Memorial Basketball Scholarship.
