Canfield couple celebrates 75th Valentine’s Day

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Neighbors | Submitted .Vernon and Helen Hood celebrate thier 60th wedding anniversary. They will celebrate this Valentine's Day with Handel's chocolate pecan ice cream.

By GRACE WYLER

gwyler@vindy.com

The love story between Helen and Vernon Hood all began with ice cream.

In 1935, Helen, then Helen Clay, saw Vernon from across the Canfield Green and decided to ask the handsome boy for some of his ice cream cone.

Now, 75 years later, Vernon still brings Helen chocolate pecan ice cream from Handel’s every Valentine’s Day.

The pair reconnected after that fateful ice cream incident as students at Canfield High School.

Helen, who is a year younger than Vernon, learned the saxophone in order to sit next to Vernon during school band practice. The couple began dating and have been inseparable since.

“We started going steady when I was a sophomore,” Vernon said. “Or, at least I started going steady.”

“He means that I didn’t start going steady,” Helen said, winking.

The couple was married on May 26, 1944 in Pensacola, Fla., — the same day that Vernon, the first naval fighter pilot to graduate from Canfield High, was awarded his Navy wings.

After flying F-6 Hellcats over Japan during World War II, Vernon graduated from Kent State and he and Helen returned to Canfield.

Vernon, a charter inductee into the Canfield High School Hall of Fame, went on to become the school’s athletic director, as well as a math and science teacher. He was the head coach of the Cardinals’ football, basketball, baseball and track teams.

Although the pair moved away from Canfield in the 1950s, they have retired to their hometown. The Hoods now live in a house that Vernon built, blocks away from where they both grew up.

Vernon still takes care of their home, shoveling snow and doing yard work. And since Helen’s retirement, Vernon lights her a fire every morning with logs that he has split himself.

“They have a fit when I split the logs, but I do it anyway,” Vernon said.

The secret to their long-term success, Helen said, is thinking about others and staying active and involved.

“We always try to take care of our friends and our families,” she said. “We were never bored, there is always something to do. Just keep busy, that’s how you keep young.”

The couple have a daughter, Tamara, and adopted twin 8-year-old boys, Tim and Tom. They also have five grandsons and four great-grandchildren.

Helen has been an active volunteer at the hospital and both she and Vernon are involved in numerous clubs and church activities.

“They are young at heart and unselfish,” Tamara said. “They stay active every day.”

In addition to sharing an ice cream treat, the couple usually celebrates Valentine’s Day by going out to one of their favorite restaurants — they like Springfield Grille and Red Lobster — or on a trip to Las Vegas or Atlantic City.

But wherever they go, Vernon tells the pianist to play the couple’s favorite song — “It Had To Be You.”