“The farthest journey starts with one small step.” (Chinese proverb)
And so I start the Yosh side of the Wright family. Mom died in 1969 and Dad died in 1947, when the youngest, Billy, was just shy of 2 years. With a small insurance settlement, Mom was able to purchase a 4-apartment company house on Murray St. in Larksville and raised her family there. There were no indoor bathroom facilities in the three-level house, but there was a state-of-the-art outhouse with four “seats” (OK, holes). These four seats were partitioned so that two people could use them on either side. I don’t ever remember 4 people using it at the same time, but the possibility just boggles the mind. Timmo Herbert and I would occasionally run down to utilize the corrugated metal rod on hot summer days when there was a thunderstorm. We would light candles and read the comic section of the newspaper and listen to the thundering rain. To be honest, the funny papers had other functions than reading…but, I digress.
Allow me to list my parents and siblings along with the grandchildren of my mom and dad’s. I would love to hear my family’s remembrances of Mom and growing up in Larksville. I hope they will send their memories to this website/page because we truly have a special bond of being Yosh and by extension, proud Wrights. I will continue to add to the lore in remembering incidents which others might find interesting.
Thank you Mary Christiana for all the time and effort you have put into this project and for your patience in getting me to start this Yosh/Wright link. Thank you Mary Grochowski for your love of Wrights.
YOSH/WRIGHT family
Mary Clare Wright (1906-1969) was the fourth child of Mom and Pop Wright: she married Stephen “Skeets” Yosh in 1925.
Children: Mary “Nanny” Antall
John “Jacko” Yosh
Anna “Gerry” Lipski
James “Shoes” Yosh
Stephen “Skip” Yosh
William “Bill” Yosh
“Nanny” (Mary) married David “Big Dad” Antall and had two children:
David Jr. Antall
Stephen Francis Antall
“Jacko” (John or Jack) was a confirmed bachelor
“Gerry” (Anna Geraldine) married William “Bull” Lipski and produced four children:
Patricia “Patti” Cresho
William “Bill” Lipski
Donald “Donnie” Lipski
Richard “Rick” Lipski
“Shoes” (James or Jim) married Eleanor Magda; they had eight children
James “Jim” Yosh
Jacqueline “Jackie” Danbrowney
Stephen “Steve” Yosh
Christopher “Chris” Yosh
Kimberly “Kim” Cianelli
Joseph “Joe” Yosh
Caroline “Pook” Lake
William “Bill” Yosh
“Skipper” or “Skip” (Stephen Francis) married Lillian Yeager (Div); they had two children
Stephen “Skeets” Yosh
Maura Dankert
“Bill” (William) married Barbara Motto; they had two children
Pamela Yosh Connolly
William “Bill” Yosh Jr
For those who might be interested to know the derivation of all the nicknames of the first generation Yoshes: (some may know otherwise), but…..
Mary: She was called “Nanny” or “Nan” (even by her children). Legend has it that she wanted at one time to be a “nun” and Grandmother Yosh (Bobbi) called her “Nunny” which corrupted to “Nanny”.
John: “Jacko” always wanted to be 100% Irish, so he acquired the Irish “O” to become Jack
O’Yosh.
Anna: There were too many Anna’s in the Wright family, so Anna wanted her middle name (Geraldine) to get to “Gerry”. Jack always said “Ger” got whatever she wanted; he also said that Ger was born crying, and she never stopped. He loved her nonetheless.
James: My mom made Jim wear hand-me-down brown shoes to school one day while his cousin John Wright was waiting for him. Jim said to my mom, “I can’t wear these to school; they’ll call me “Shoes.” That’s all cousin John needed to hear. A nickname was born.
Stephen: There’s an 8×10 picture of brother Stephen (about 6 or 7 years old) in a set of navy shorts and gold-buttoned coat with a cap that looks like a Boy Scout cap. “Skipper” was born and “Skip” it is.
William: Oddly enough, never had a nickname other than “Billy” but succeeding years have produced a rash of nicknames, none of which is fit for printing in this informational piece.
God Bless the Wrights and the Yoshes, and God Bless the USA.
Written by Bill Yosh