Shaver Street childhood led to culinary career

By Colleen Good, Fairmont Times

Barbara Yanero 

Barbara Yanero grew up in Monongah on Shaver Street. The street has a long history. For quite some time, Polish and Italian immigrants lived on that street.

Yanero’s family started living there with her great-grandparents, who moved there around 1927. Later, her great-grandfather made a house for her grandmother and grandfather out of a barn that was on the property.

“He was an amazing human being,” Yanero said. “And my mom and dad ended up living there as well, and now me.”

In Monongah, the neighbors formed a tight-knit group.

“Growing up in Monongah, it was like a Bruce Springsteen song,” Yanero said laughing. “It was my hometown. Everyone knew everyone.”

Their neighbors, the Jacobins, have been their neighbors for more than 60 years.

“There’s a sense of community in Monongah that I was raised with that I will never forget,” Yanero said.

Yanero’s mom’s side of the family was originally from Poland, and when Yanero and her sister were growing up, her grandmother would cook for them.

“When we were very little, we got to just be kids. I mean, we sat in the living room, and we waited until the food came out on the table. We weren’t allowed in the kitchen,” Yanero said laughing.

“But as we got older, she would teach us different recipes. I’ve made pierogies with her countless times, and I’ve made cabbage rolls with her ... It’s really a bonding thing.”

Her family also kept large gardens on the property.

“They grew their own vegetables. (My grandfather) worked in the mines until 10 at night, and he would come home, and he would tend to his garden,” Yanero said. “They didn’t have plows back then, so he hand-plowed the whole acre of land.”

Yanero said he also crossbred different produce together.

The garden was a big part of her life growing up.

“It was a way of life. It was our culture,” Yanero said. “We utilized everything. We composted. It was just a different way — it was the way it was. It was very common sense. It wasn’t wasteful at all.”

Yanero said that her family’s gardening tradition was a big help during the Great Depression.
“(My grandmother) was very blessed that when everything went kaput and was gone, that they lived off the land to survive, and they were very fortunate that they had that skill,” Yanero said.

“And that’s what ultimately got me into going to culinary school.”

In 1994, when Yanero was 17, she went to Pittsburgh to start a two-year culinary school program. Her time there showed her how special Shaver Street really was.

“Most kids who I went to school with had never experienced that kind of culture with food,” Yanero said. “I mean, one of the girls I roomed with, her parents owned a McDonalds … I didn’t realize how rare (Monongah’s growing and cooking culture) was until I went to the city, and I got exposed to people who had not had that same upbringing.”

The culinary school program included a year of instruction in Pittsburgh, and a four-month intensive internship working at the Siena hotel in Chapel Hill, North Carolina, where she completed the equivalent of a year’s work for her degree.

“When I went to culinary school, it was completely different from working out in the field,” Yanero said. “They taught us knife skills and breakfast cookery and salads and how to make our own dressings, and how to make our own pastas…but when I got out into the industry, they told us there were a lot of hours, but I had no idea.”

One hundred-hour work weeks are normal for chefs, Yanero said.

For 15 years, she worked as a chef, even spending one year in Italy to hone her craft.

“People say, ‘Oh, that was so glamorous,’ but it really wasn’t because it was 100 hours a week,” Yanero said. “But it was an amazing experience, and it’s where I learned the most about our food supply.”

Her time in Italy helped drive Yanero’s passion for fresh and local food, something she still strives for when finding ingredients for her dishes.

While her work as a chef has been intense and difficult at times, she wouldn’t have it any other way.

“It’s raw and it’s rough and it’s hard, but I don’t look at it like most people. I look at it like anything that’s hard in life as something that is going to put you to the next level,” Yanero said. “So if you work hard at anything you do, it’s worth it.

“Life is hard. Things take commitment, things take hard work, and you have to hone your skill and do your best. Some people don’t want to give it their all. They want to slide by. And I’ve just never been one of those people.”

After working for 15 years as a chef, Yanero decided to go back to school for her bachelor’s degree from West Virginia University in 2007, getting a degree in cultural anthropology and photojournalism, areas where her already-honed love of culture and food served her well. She graduated in 2013.

“It took me a long time because I was working other jobs, and I was raising a child on my own,” Yanero said.

Today, she lives back on her family’s property on Shaver Street in Monongah.

“There are three houses on our property. My sister lives in my grandmother’s house. My mom lives in my great-grandmother’s house, and I live in the house that my great-grandfather made from a barn,” Yanero said.

Her mom is retired now, and is able to look after Yanero’s son and her sister’s son.

“It’s pretty amazing to have them raised on the same property we were all raised on,” Yanero said.

And this summer, Yanero started a new job working as a pastry chef at WVU. The hours are better than at a traditional restaurant, and they even get traditional holidays off, so she can spend more time with her family and her son.

She said her main job as a pastry chef is to “bump up the menu, and bump up the flavor.” She is also working to bring more locally grown ingredients to the kitchen.

“We had talked about working with some of the local farmers to get local ingredients and make that bloom a little bit,” Yanero said. “I’m definitely a seasonal, local kind of gal.”

Shaver Street is off Bridge Street, uphill from that part of Booth’s Creek and between Ford Street and Lambert Avenue.

Sara Bright Yanero, Class of 1969, lives at 34 Shaver Street, according to the 1993 North Marion High directory. Sara B. Yanero is a 1992 North Marion graduate.

Yaneros in Monongah High history:

Danny Yanero, Class of 1939

 Fred Yanero, Class of 1957

 Roselyn Yanero, Class of 1959.

Sandy Yanero Hatley, Class of 1960.

Daniel Yanero, Class of 1961. Died June 16, 1977.

Thomas Yanero, Class of 1963.

Marcia Bradley Yanero, Class of 1963.

Franklin Yanero, Class of 1964.

Susan Yanero Fried, Class of 1965.

Alfred Yanero, Class of 1967.

Pamela Yanero, Class of 1969.

Sarah Bright Yanero, Class of 1969.

Jennifer Sabo Yanero, Class of 1970.

Christopher Yanero, Class of 1971

Richard Yanero, Class of 1971, owner of Rick's Bellview Lounge, Fairmont.

Kim Yanero, Class of 1974

Diane Yanero, Class of 1977.

Linda Phillips Yanero, Class of 1977.

Sarah B. Yanero, North Marion Class of 1992.

f you have memories of the Yanero family, or know the names of Barbara Yanero’s parents, grandparents and great-grandparents mentioned in the Fairmont Times story, email John Olesky at jo4wvu@neo.rr.com and I’ll add the information to this Monongah High Alumni blog article.