JOHN YOKAY, JR., CLASS OF 1953, PASSES AWAY

 

John Yokay, Class of 1953, brother of Leatrice Yokay Greaser, Class of 1950, passed away Wednesday January 12 in Maryland.

Leatrice, who lives in Fairmont, phoned to give me the sad news. John was 86.

As in the Olesky family, there are more Johns than a street of portapotties.

There’s podiatrist and Barrackville High and WVU grad John Yokay III, the now-late John Yokay, Jr.’s son, and Leatrice, John and the late Patty Yokay Maddox, Class of 1948, all three the children of the original John Yokay of Carolina.

John played for the 1952 state champ Monongah High football team and once worked at St. John’s School of Boys in Deep River, Connecticut and lived in Mount Airy, Maryland. 

Leatrice told me that her brother John “called me 3 or 4 times a day.” And sometimes sang to her in Hungarian, their ethnic background.

John’s son, Steven, a senior paralegal at Astra Zeneca in Gaithersburg, Maryland who sold his house to live near his father John in Mount Airy, dialed up Leatrice in Fairmont and put the phone to the ailing John’s ear in Maryland.

Leatrice said, “John, I miss you calling me every night.” Lea added, “He opened his eyes and pulled on his covers because he thought I was coming to visit him.”

Two days later, Lea’s brother, John, passed away and will be buried in Maryland, where he has lived for 50 years minus 2 days.

Lea said, “I cried and cried till I can’t cry anymore.” I understand. I did the same thing when My Mona Lisa, my wife of 48 years, passed away in 2004. And curled up in a ball of pain for seven months till Paula came back into my life for 17 years.

Lea’s husband, Bob Greaser, passed away in 2013.

Steven has won world national and state wrestling titles in America and in Japan,  including the North American
Grappling Association crown for his weight.

Lea also phoned Betty Wilson Feltz about the sad news. Betty, who married Coach Jim Feltz just after she graduated from Monongah High, lives with her son, Jon Pat Feltz. Another son, Jay Feltz, quarterback of the 1973 Monongah High state championship team, lives in the Carolinas after a successful football time as South Carolina’s best punter.

The Feltz and Olesky families were close and helpful to each other for decades. My mother, Lena Futten Olesky, helped newlywed teenager Betty deal with married life because Betty and Jim lived in the former Domico home by Our Lady of Pompeii Church, which was razed decades ago. After my mom passed away, my sister Jackie Olesky Straight gave Betty a key to the Olesky home on Church Street and she would check in regularly with my dad. If there was a problem, Betty would call Jackie to come to Monongah to check on Dad.

Leatrice also chats by phone with Patricia Urban Utz, Class of 1959, who lives in Springfield, Virginia.

John III taught in Sacramento Unified School District and married Angelina Yokay. John III’s daughter, Petrina, an outstanding gymnast on the parallel bars, balance beam and all-around during her University of Auburn days, also is a podiatrist. John III and Petrian zip-lined together once in Jackson Hole, Wyoming and did a bit of cave exploration, too. John III also is a pretty darn good golfer.

John and wife Angie have a son, Johan (John IV), who has played rugby in Poland.

I call Leatrice the Kathryn Grayson of Monongah High because of her great singing voice during my MHS days. Lea’s teacher was music guru was the fabulous Beatrice Mangino, whose father was Phil Mangino, whose trucks delivered coal to Monongah homes and Monongah High athletes to sports events. Leatrice and Beatrice – that sounds like a name for singing sisters – remained in touch even after Beatrice moved to Lansing, Michigan.

For those too young to remember, Kathryn Grayson was born Zelma Kathryn Elisabeth Hedrick in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and was an opera singer who acted in movies with Mario Lanza, Gene Kelly, Frank Sinatra and Mickey Rooney and was in “Show Boat” (1951) and “Kiss Me, Kate” (1953). 

Last time I posted on this blog about Leatrice, after reading the article, Sharon Kniceley Hawkins responded:

 

“Leatrice and her family were neighbors of ours when we lived on 5th Street in Carolina. Oh the memories…too many to share on here.”

The Frederick News-Post, published near Mount Airy, lists John J. Yokay’s passing but doesn’t provide any additional details yet.

Leatrice’s advice to her family: “When I die, don’t you dare throw my Monongah High yearbooks away.”  We both check them regularly for glorious trips down memory lane. When I see Lea’s photo I can hear her Kathryn Grayson voice.

If you want to hear Leatrice’s still-melodious voice, her phone number is (304) 363-4858. I nagged her till she sang “Oh, Johnny” to me when she phoned last November 5 to wish me a happy 89^th birthday. I thought I was in the Monongah High auditorium again with now-Dr. Bill Lawson going wild on the drums and Mary Jo Forte, as she did when Leatrice and Mary Jo had their music show on a Fairmont radio station, making the piano sing, too.

I will close with words from the Hungarian Funeral Prayer:

Glorify our Lord's grace for this soul. To give mercy for him. And give him grace, and forgive all crimes of him.

And glorify the Saint Lady, Mary. And the Blessed Michael archangel. And all the angels. To pray for him.

Let the Lord place him with his grace into the slay of Abraham, Isac and Jacob, to on the day of judgment, with his relatives, resurrect him.