Atria La Jolla resident Victoria “Vicky” Ciccone celebrated 102 on Monday, Aug. 12 with champagne, cake, and light bites.
“I have no idea why I outlasted everyone else,” Ciccone said. “My father died at 96, and my mother at 92. My two older brothers and my younger sister are gone, too. I just get up every day, and I think I’ve had a wonderful life. I’ve met lots of wonderful and interesting people and have had good things happen to me.”
Born and raised in Utica, N.Y., Ciccone met many a significant milestone in the small city, including meeting her husband Vincent, raising their young family, and fulfilling her life-long ambition of becoming a teacher.
In 1943, Vincent and Vicky married when she was 21, a year after he had enlisted in the Army. Their first years of marriage were spent in the South where the Army sent Vincent. Later, he served in Okinawa and Vicky went back to Utica. After the war, they lived in Utica and bought a house where they raised their daughter and son.
Once her children were in school, Vicky enrolled in classes at Utica College. She graduated in 1969, achieving her life-long ambition to become a teacher. She taught seventh-grade English in New Hartford, N.Y., for nine years.
One freezing winter day in 1978 as she cleared the snow from her car, she slipped and ended up under the car. She remembers thinking, “We need to go someplace warm.”
Her sister and family had earlier moved from New York to San Diego, so in 1978 she and her husband joined them, purchasing a new condo in Tierrasanta.
Vincent continued to work until the late 1980s, and Vicky did substitute teaching and immersed herself in volunteer activities, including the YWCA, American Association of University Women, and her church. They enjoyed taking cruises for many years with her sister, Eva.
Today, her daughter and son, both retired, live in San Diego, and her four grandchildren and five great-grandchildren all live in California. Vincent passed away in 2013 and Eva in 2014. She moved into Atria on Pulitzer Place in 2016, which has proven to be a wonderful place to live. Atria has given her a second family filled with friendships and community activities.
