Feb. 8, 2012

The Occupational Therapy Assistant students donated $1,264 for a scholarship fund honoring the late Raymond and Mabel Montavon, of Wheelersburg, whose daughter Mendy Sissel is a senior instructor in the OTA program.

Raymond Montavon was a WWII veteran and he worked two jobs and farmed to raise a family and send all of his six children to receive a private school education at Notre Dame in Portsmouth. He retired from the Army and from Williams Shoe Factory after more than 20 years.

Mabel Montavon retired from Sunset Lanes and as restaurant manager for the former Burger Chef and Druther's Restaurants. She was very active in the community and raised money for numerous charitable organizations. Besides her own children, she was a foster parent of 51 children, including 42 infants for Catholic Social Services.

Five of the six Montavon children went on to earn bachelor's degrees or higher from several universities, The Ohio State University, Ohio Dominican, the University of Dayton and two graduated from Shawnee State. After getting her bachelor's degree from Shawnee State, Sissel went on to get her master's degree from the University of Findlay. She has been on the faculty at Shawnee State since 1988.

Her father was killed in a random act of violence at his home in 2001 and her mother died in 2010.

"My family is very honored that the OTA program and its students chose to honor my parents with the establishment of the Raymond and Mabel Montavon Occupational Therapy Assistant Scholarship at Shawnee State," Sissel said.