Carol Joyce West

Carol Joyce West (nee Simsik), age 84, of Vermilion, died on Sunday March 11. Born in Lorain on May 18, 1933, she was born the second of three children to first generation Slovaks John Theodore Simsik and Celia Ludmilla Katonak. In 1951 she graduated from Lorain High School, and in 1952 married William Gonzalez de Carrero, a recent immigrant of Puerto Rico. In 1957, Carol married Raymond West, whose pioneer family had settled in Pittsfield/Oberlin before 1837. Together they raised 5 children in Vermilion. In the 1950's, Carol worked at the Lorain Ship Yards as a Spanish speaking telephone operator, and in the 1970s and later, she worked at Cedar Point, Vermilion High School, and Lorain Community Hospital. She had attended Christ Slovak Lutheran Church of Lorain, and later was a Sunday School teacher and member of the Vermilion United Church of Christ (E&R). She was an avid reader, enjoyed history, classic black and white movies, travel, and cooking. She loved her family very deeply. Carol was preceded in death by her mother in 2002, brothers Karl George in 1959 and John Bennett in 2005, all of Lorain; and her son David Jon in 2004 of Vermilion. Carol is survived by 4 children; Ray of Vermilion , Susan (Dale) Holley of Jacksonville Florida, Judy (Jim Shirley) West of Urbana Illinois, and Adam (Jo An Ozanich) of Vermilion, 4 grandchildren Jesse, Michael, Stacie, and Matthew, and 4 great grandchildren. Carol will be laid to rest in a private service at Ridge Hill Memorial Park in Amherst, alongside her son and generations of beloved Katonak and Simsik family members. "Softly and tenderly Jesus is calling, calling for you and for me. come home, come home, you who are weary come home." Funeral arrangements entrusted to Riddle Funeral Home, 5345 South Street, Vermilion, OH. Online condolences may be made to riddlefuneralhome.com