Abe & Syril Viero

Abe was born and raised in Bloomington, California.  His father worked for Riverside Cement and his mother was a homemaker.  Abe was the second of two boys and his older brother Jim still lives in the San Bernardino area.  Abe went to high school in Colton where he was active in all the sports – track, football, basketball – until it conflicted with band which won out.  He played clarinet and saxophone all through high school. Abe’s true love though was flying.  He began flying at sixteen and had his commercial license by the time he was eighteen.  He flew out of Riverside and did a lot of flying for private companies.  He also ran his own air taxi service to L.A. , Abe’s Air Taxi.   Abe married his first wife, Rosie and together they had two children, a boy and a girl.  Abe’s official career was in the grocery business where he worked for 25 years, becoming a manager for Mayfair Markets.  When they discovered that son Richard had asthma and seemed to do better in the mountains, they moved to Running Springs where they remained until Rosie’s unexpected death in 2000, after 39 happy years of marriage.  While in Running Springs, they bought a security and alarm business, a business for which son Richard remains the manager.  Abe also began selling real estate while in Running Springs.  After Rosie’s death, Abe began taking helicopter lessons as therapy and would fly to Oceano about once a month to visit his in-laws.  It was during one of these visits that, by chance, he met Syril.
Syril was born in a suburb of Boston, where she grew up.  Her father was district Manager for Metropolitan Life and her mother a homemaker.  Syril was the 2nd of three children with an older sister and a younger brother, all born within 3-1/2 years and very close.  After grammar school, Syril went to Girls Latin School in Boston and became very active in theatre and modeling school.  She produced and directed her senior class play.  After high school she went to Cal State Hayward, where she majored in Business Administration, their first female graduate. Syril married and went to work for Kaiser-Aetna in Oakland, a newly formed partnership between Kaiser & Aetna Life.  They were tasked to search the United States and Canada for land to build quality industrial parks.  After a year she was to be promoted to the 26th floor with her own office at the same time her husband was transferred to the Central Coast.  She was heartbroken to have to leave.   She was selected for an outside sales position at the Automobile Club and after a year became #1 in the region for sales, the first female to do so. She was offered a promotion at headquarters in L.A. but did not want to leave the area until her son graduated from high school.  Eventually, she left the Auto Club and got her real estate and broker’s licenses.  She worked for several developers, other brokerage houses,  and at the time she met Abe was consulting for Pacific Plaza Resort. Back to their chance meeting, Abe had flown in to Oceano and parked his helicopter at the airport.  He noticed a real estate project nearby and walked over to check it out and began talking to Syril, who was managing the project.  After some general conversation which turned to flirting, he invited her to dinner.  She agreed to go out with him the next evening, but began to have second thoughts the next afternoon.  He convinced her to at least meet him at the airport to see his helicopter and she ultimately relented and went to the Sea Venture with him for dinner.  As fate would have it, they began dating regularly on his trips to the area and after about a year became engaged.  Things fell into place when someone offered to buy Abe’s business in Big Bear and a hangar space opened up for his helicopter in Oceano.  They sneaked off to Carmel and were married at Point Lobos without telling anyone. They both say they love working together in real estate and that their marriage has been a joy.  Their leisure activities consist of flying the helicopter and taking pictures, short trips (working in their real estate business currently prevents longer ones), and they love to walk (you’ve probably seen them out walking around Blacklake at least once a day).  Abe also is a golfer and Syril is still contemplating trying it. Abe belongs to the Elks, the Lions, and is a consultant to a local alarm company in addition to being a member of the Sheriff’s aero squadron, where he does search and rescue with his helicopter. Between the two of them, they share 3 children and 6 grandchildren. We give a friendly Gyro welcome to these two new members of our Blacklake Gyro family.