TimesLeader.com

November 8

Only 17, Kerry Pernot inspired by WWII vet

Essay contest winner will push Tony Donato in wheelchair in parade today

By Jack Smiles jsmiles@psdispatch.com
Times Leader Staff Writer

Kerry Pernot, 17, a Pittston Area senior from Duryea doesn’t consider herself a top student or a good writer.

Don’t tell that to Tony Donato, an 84-year-old WWII veteran from Pittston, who lives at Wesley Village where Kerry works as a food server.

For a school-wide writing assignment Kerry wrote an essay about veterans that includes a cute story about Donato.

Kerry was surprised when her essay was chosen as the best at Pittston Area and she was entered as a finalist in a Wyoming Valley Veteran’s Day Essay Contest.

Kerry was invited to march, with finalists from other schools, in the Veteran’s Day parade in Wilkes-Barre today.

She won’t be going alone.

Kerry asked Tony to go with her and she is going to push him along the route in his wheelchair.

Kerry said she got to know Tony at the Wesley dining room where he eats. “I usually work in his department,” she said. “There’s something special about him, he’s just different, really friendly.”

Though only a junior Kerry has a career plan in place. She plans to go to LCCC and study nursing.

She said she likes to read.

Some of her favorite books are the The Pretty Little Liars series, which Kerry, with a laugh, described as being about “snotty” high school girls.

Something Kerry definitely is not.

Here are excerpts from her Veteran’s Day finalist essay.

Veterans are some of the most inspirational people. They are courageous, intelligent, and strong.

They are heroes in my eyes.

There is no way we would ever be able to thank them the way we should.

I work at a nursing home so a lot of the male residents I help have fought in the war.

Many of the female residents were nurses during the war or contributed in some other way. I know three residents at the nursing home who are very inspirational to me and stand out in my mind.

Two of them are war veterans and one of them is the wife of a war veteran.

Tony Donato is a man I have known for only a little over a year.

In that year he has taught me so much.

He is a resident at the nursing home I work at. My favorite war story he told me is about the tattoo he got while fighting in the war.

“The tattoo faded, but the memories sure haven’t,” is what he told me.

It is a picture of a rose with “mom” inscribed on it.

He commented by saying, “the tattoo was so everybody could see that even though the war was tough I still found a way to have a little rebellious fun!”

The nursing home holds an annual Veteran’s Day festival for the residents, and Tony proudly wore his patriotic stars and stripes party hat while waving his American flag.