Len Naumovich, the beloved father-in-law of Tom Mann, the researcher who helped me so faithfully with my blogsite and book, has died. Fortunately, I got to meet and interview Len a few years ago, thanks to Tom and his wife Mary, Len’s oldest daughter.

I first met Len and his brother Joe in May 2012 at our “Lithuanians in Springfield” historical marker dedication in Enos Park. The brothers told me of their memories living around the corner from my Lithuanian immigrant great aunt, Mary Yamont. Later, I was able to include the story of Len and Joe’s “immigrant childhood” on this blog and in my book, “A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield, Illinois.” But there is so much more than I ever knew about Len in the obituary (below), written by his loving family. 

Please join me in offering them our sympathy–and in celebrating a remarkable life. You might also want to re-read my blog post about Len’s immigrant childhood and his musically talented Lithuanian coal-mining immigrant dad–also named Len.

https://lithspringfield.com//?s=Naumovich&search=Go

From the Illinois State Journal-Register, March 6, 2019

Len Naumovich 1926 – 2019

Published in Print in The State Journal-Register from Mar. 6 to Mar. 7, 2019

The Leonard Naumovich family is one of the largest Lithuanian-American families in Springfield, thanks to Len and wife Jean’s 10 children, and their children. Like all large and successful families, it grew from modest roots and weathered real adversity. Leonard and brother Joe’s mother Josephine (daughter of Lithuanian immigrant coal miner Benedict Deresker), lost two successive Lithuanian immigrant husbands to the mines, including Len and Joe’s father Leonard Naumovich (Lith. Naumavicius?), Sr.

L to r: Joe and Leonard Naumovich, Jr. in full altar boy regalia, circa 1932

Len, Sr. died when his boys were just seven and five years old, leaving Josephine with no husband (again), and a total of five children to support, including three from her first husband, John Budwitis.

It seems to me that some families just know how to pull together to survive hardships. Some adults are better at keeping their nerve and their wits about them in extreme conditions. They just keep on working and doing the right thing day by day. Josephine was such a woman. After being widowed for the second time, she supported her family as long-time housekeeper for the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception downtown for $30 a month. The cost of taking the bus to and from work ate into even that small sum.

But somehow, despite everything, Josephine found the time and energy to remain active in St. Vincent de Paul Lithuanian Catholic Church. Joe and Len can still see in their minds the carefully cleaned bathtub at the family home (at 1127 Percy Ave.) filled with the ingredients for the stuffed kielbasa their mother always hand-mixed for the church’s annual bazaar. Josephine also served as an officer in the church’s women’s sodality. A 1936 newspaper article (two years after husband Len, Sr. died) also lists Josephine on the refreshments committee of the Lithuanian Republican Club of Springfield.

Joe and Len were no slouches, themselves, holding down newspaper delivery routes while going to school and helping around the house. They can still remember their dad’s 1934 wake, held at home, according to the custom of the day. Len, Sr. had died suddenly of pneumonia after an accident at the mine at 11th and Ridgely forced the miners to use a distant exit well north of the Fairgrounds and walk home in the middle of winter without their coats. A base “layer” of black lung disease, the universal miner’s scourge, no doubt contributed to the onset and severity of Len’s pneumonia. (John Budwitis, Josephine’s first husband, had died in 1923 at age 33 in an explosion in the same mine, where he was a “shot firer” igniting gunpowder to create controlled explosions to break up seams of coal. One newspaper account actually says he was a last-minute “substitute” in that most dangerous of jobs, which would explain the so-called “windy shot” accident that took his life.)

Laid Out in the Living Room

Len and Joe’s dad was laid out in the living room of the same two-bedroom home as Budwitis probably was–11 years later. Mourners who came and went from the house all night were fed ham and sausage from the kitchen, which also held a keg of beer. A huge flower bouquet on the front porch marked theirs as a home in mourning. After a 24-hour wake, including an all-night vigil, their father’s body was taken to St. Vincent de Paul’s, where the open casket was photographed on the steps of the church surrounded by mourners.

Leonard Naumovich, Sr. with mandolin, circa 1925.

Immigrant miner Len Naumovich, Sr. had been a sacristan at St. Vincent’s. His collection of musical instruments from the attic, after he died, included a mandolin, violin, trumpet and baritone horn. Life without a father couldn’t have been easy for young sons Len and Joe. But life for the two Naumovich boys did go on, closely charting the spiritual ups and economic downs of the Lithuanian-American experience in Springfield.

As a teenager, one of the boys briefly worked for Jake Cohen at the Cohens’ Peoria Rd. grocery for a nickel an hour–until he left to work at a nearby grocery for 10 cents an hour. During Advent every year, St. Vincent’s pastor, Father Stanley Yunker, made his round of home visits to collect the annual parish dues of $8 per family. Len and Joe remember wooden kegs of herring for advent and Kucios, the Lithuanian Christmas Eve celebration, that were sold by Wally Mouske’s grocery on Peoria Rd. south of Griffith.

Leonard, Sr.’s hand-inked music book. The quality of his handwriting indicates that he was literate before he arrived in the U.S. to mine coal. Note the Polonized spelling “Naumovicz,” the root of the resulting Naumovich spelling.

Len and Joe also remember voters being coaxed to the polls with the reward of a small bottle of liquor, each. And the night “Shorty” Casper’s illegal still near the Peoria Rd. railroad tracks exploded, burning down the alleged canning shed that hid it, to Shorty’s exclamations that it must have been his tomatoes that blew up. Ethnic Lithuanian picnics at the Wedgewood Pavilion north of the Fairgrounds were well-attended—and frequently punctuated by brawls.

During the “Mine Wars” (1932-36), miners from the opposing unions, not to mention Peabody company thugs, were accustomed to walking around with loaded guns in their waistbands. Len and Joe remember state militia men lining Sangamon Ave. on both sides to create a corridor of safety for children to walk home from St. Aloysius school.

Endemic corruption in Springfield and Sangamon County included suspected police collusion in prostitution and the punchboard business, once a legal, then an illegal form of gambling. Greek-American state’s attorney George Coutrakon famously “cleaned up” Springfield in the 1940s and ’50s.

A page from Len, Sr.’s personal music book: “Jojau Diena” words and music in his own hand. Being able to write Lithuanian was rare for an immigrant of the time due to the Russian czar’s ban on the Lithuanian language. Len, Sr.’s education was likely the product of a determined effort by his own mother, with the aid of smuggled books.

Joe Naumovich still passionately remembers the unrelenting poverty of the Great Depression. The lack of jobs continued, despite Roosevelt’s New Deal, all the way until World War II, when weapons production finally re-opened idled factories.

Today Joe can look back on a long and successful career at the Internal Revenue Service. Len worked at Sangamo Electric and later CWLP as a building and stores supervisor. Both graduated from Cathedral Boys High School, the predecessor of Griffin High School and SHG.

Many thanks to Tom Mann, Leonard, Jr.’s son-in-law, for research, photos, and setting up my interviews with Len and Joe.

Joan Naumovich

Third-generation Lithuanian-American Joan M. Naumovich is Patient Advocate/ Director of Patient Relations at St. John’s Hospital. She began her medical career in high school as a volunteer or “candy striper” before earning her R.N. and then serving many years as a bedside nurse, always at St. John’s.

Joan says she gets a lot of satisfaction from her “healthcare ministry” helping patients navigate an increasingly complex medical system, which often involves a daunting number of specialists and a dizzying array of high-tech tests and treatments.

The third of 10 children born to Leonard and Jean Naumovich, Joan says her grandmother Josephine Deresker Naumovich immigrated from Lithuania in the early 1900s. And, like so many of us, Joan faced surname mutilation by teachers all through school at St. Aloysius, Ursuline Academy, then St. Louis University, where she earned her B.S. in nursing. She laughs: “It is amazing how many ways there are to put the 9 letters in Naumovich together to create a variety of sounds.”

Joan’s two daughters, Katie and Missy Dodd, come from a double-Lithuanian background. Their paternal great-grandmother was Springfield-area Lithuanian Marcella Yuscius. Joan has a fond memory of Grandma Yuscius assessing Katie as an infant in diapers and pronouncing Lithuanian words that sounded like “subikis paklis,” which she translated into English as, “butt like a stove.”

Did that make you laugh out loud, like it did me? Do any readers recognize that phrase—or can you correct it for us if it’s a bit off? (Sounds like a keeper for some of life’s special occasions.)

It seems only natural, after speaking of butts, to transition to the subject of Lithuanian food. Joan remembers going as a child with her dad to a local grocer to buy the ethnic cheese called suris, sometimes with seeds and sometimes without. She liked the creamy, rich texture and recalls her dad eating only that for his lunch, especially during Lent.

Do any of our readers remember—or eat suris? And, if you eat too much, will somebody mumble in Lithuanian that you have “a butt like cheese?” And, if they did, how would you know? (I must be channeling Joan’s humorist brother Dan here.)

An annual Christmas favorite for Joan’s daughter Missy to this day is kugelis, a grated potato-bacon-onion casserole topped with sour cream that grandmother Dodd makes. Both sides of Joan’s extended Lithuanian family love Kielbasa and serve it as a side dish every Easter, Thanksgiving and Christmas.

suris: Lithuanian curd cheese

Most of us probably know Dan Naumovich as a monthly humor columnist for the State Journal-Register who makes us laugh at everyday aspects of family life. As a writer myself, I can tell you it’s a gift to be able to make something like having the flu sound funny. (Here’s one of Dan’s most popular SJ-R columns: http://www.sj-r.com/features/x1806564873/Dan-Naumovich-Sorry-kids-youve-been-chopped )

Few of Dan’s readers probably know that he is a third-generation Springfield Lithuanian-American, the grandson of Lithuania-born Leonard and Josephine Naumovich. Dan is also one of 10 children of Leonard and Jean Naumovich, and, he says, “probably the only one not to win a Fr. Yunker (Lithuanian student) college scholarship.”

Dan’s day job for eight years has been marketing the services of Crawford, Murphy & Tilly consulting engineers of Springfield. He holds a bachelor’s degree in marketing from Quincy College, and also earned a master’s degree in communications. “When I started grad school,” Dan says, “my wife Tammy and I had one child. By the time I graduated, we had four: Maria (now 13), Tessie (11), Victor (11), and Mark (8). It was a busy time,” Dan says.

Dan grew up on the North End and went to St. Aloysius Grade School. He graduated from Griffin High School in 1984. He started writing for the SJ-R in 2005. “The editor had been reading my blog, which covered local issues, and contacted me about contributing to the newspaper on a freelance basis,” Dan says. “I tend to write about my children a lot, but now that they’re getting older, I have to be a little more sensitive about it. Even though 99 percent of kids never read a newspaper, I don’t want any embarrassing stories making it back to the playground.”

Dan has a freelance writing service on the side, through which he writes for other publications, and also provides copy to businesses and organizations. His freelance web site is www.naumo.com.

Draugas just ran a Lithuanian-language review of my book, “Springfieldo lietuvių istorija,” that contains authentic Lithuanian surnames for several families mentioned:  Pazemetsky, Blazis, Chepulis, Turasky, Kamiczaites, Yamont, Naumovich, Andruskevitch, Pakutinsky, Kasawich, Rekesius, Tisckos, Yumbras, Yaktis, Ubanckas, Welch (Wilcauskas). I can’t say that these are all perfectly correct, but they are good guesses at the original Lithuanian surname. See the bolded names in the text below, and enjoy!

By Gediminas Indreika.

Neseniai išleista Sandy Baksys knygos „A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield, Illinois” antroji laida, apžvelgianti daugiau kaip šimtmetį Illinois sostinėje gyvenusių lietuvių istoriją. Ši iliustruota knyga pasirodė tinkamu laiku – 2018 metais Illinois valstija švęs 200 metų steigimo jubiliejų.

Dauguma čikagiečių nežino, kad Springfield lietuviai įkūrė Šv. Vincento parapiją. Nuo 1890 m. lietuviai kėlėsi į pietų Illinois, suvilioti darbų anglies kasyklose ir žemės ūkyje. Taip pat kūrėsi Westville, East St. Louis ir kituose kasyklų miesteliuose. Augusiai amerikiečių aplinkoje Springfield Sandy Baksys niekad nekilo mintis, kad jos kaimynystėje tebegyveno paskutinieji lietuviai angliakasiai ir apie tūkstantis jų palikuonių. Susidomėjusi savo šeimos genealogija autorė atrado, kad jos tėvo teta Marija Jamontienė buvo toji jėga, kurios dėka šeima niūriais didžiosios depresijos metais atlaikė ekonominius sunkumus. Pradėjusi tyrinėti kitų lietuvių šeimų istorijas, autorė šiuos aprašymus įdėjo į internetinį blogą Lithspringfield.com. Ji surinko ir pavienių asmenų pasakojimus.

Sandy Baksys Northwestern universitete yra baigusi žurnalistiką. Autorė apklausė keliolika lietuvių kilmės asmenų, kurie pasidalijo prisiminimais, laiškais ir šeimos nuotraukomis. Ji peržiūrėjo straipsnius apie Springfieldo lietuvius Illinois State Journal laikraštyje. Kitų raginama, parašė knygą, susidedančią iš 60 skyrelių; kiekvienas skyrelis – apie šeimos įsikūrimą ar apie žymų įvykį.

Pirmoji lietuvių imigrantų banga į Springfield vyko 1890–1914 m. 1906 m. lietuviai įkūrė Šv. Vincento Pauliečio parapiją. Kun. Jonas Čiuberkis pastatė mūrinę bažnyčią, kuriai 1919 m. jau priklausė 500 šeimų. Šv. Vincento parapijoje veikė daug religinių ir keletas jaunimo organizacijų – Vyčiai ir sporto klubai. Ypatinga šventė Springfield lietuvių parapijoje vyko 1936 m. balandžio 19 d., kai trys lietuviai – Kazimieras Andriuškevičius, Petras Klumbys ir Kazimieras Toliušis – priėmė kunigystės šventimus.

Dalis lietuvių darbininkų buvo kairiųjų pažiūrų. Tokį nusistatymą lėmė darbdavių elgesys: kasyklų vadovybė juos išnaudodavo, atleisdavo iš darbo arba trumpindavo darbo laiką. Retas kuris angliakasių išdirbdavo 40 valandų per savaitę. Nelaimės, sužeidimai ir plaučių ligos kenkė jų sveikatai ir atitraukdavo nuo darbo. Tie, kurie buvo sumanūs ar turėjo kokį talentą bei amatą, dirbo antrą darbą, kad pragyventų. Jų žmonos įsidarbindavo mažai apmokamuose darbuose, pvz., Anastazija Pažemeckienė dirbo viešbučio skalbykloje už 8 dol. per mėnesį. Dar kitos dirbo „Pillsbury” miltų fabrike.

1930 m. Susivienijimo lietuvių Amerikoje seimo metu atskilo socialistų mažuma, pasivadinusi Lietuvių darbininkų susivienijimu (LDS). Ši komunistuojanti organizacija verbavo angliakasius tapti LDS nariais. Kita organizacija, Amerikos lietuvių katalikų susivienijimas, kovojo prieš darbininkų išnaudojimą, prieš alkoholizmą ir kartu su darbo unijomis buvo atrama prieš komunizmą. Iš kairiųjų veikėjų minėtini Juozas Pakutinskas, laikraščio „Laisvė” korespondentas. Su žmona Ona Janušauskaite jis pirko 80 akrų ūkį Champaign apskrity, ten augino kalakutus. Jų kalakutų ūkis tapo populiari erdvė kairiųjų LDS gegužinėms.

Kai kurie angliakasiai turėjo talentų, – Leonardas Naumovičius buvo talentingas muzikantas. Jis grojo smuiku, mandolina ir trimitu. Po mirties namo palėpėje buvo rasti jo instrumentai ir ranka rašytas sąsiuvinis su Maironio „Kur bėga Šešupė” gaidomis. Jo svajonė tapti profesionaliu muziku neišsipildė.

Nemažai lietuvių sėkmingai pradėjo verslus. Martynas ir Charles Tiškus po Antrojo pasaulinio karo įsteigė baldų parduotuvę. Broliai Juozas ir Vilimas Čepuliai atidarė „Chepulis Champion Garage” automobilių aptarnavimo įmonę. Juozas Turauskis (Turasky) įsteigė „Y- T Packing” mėsos kompaniją, kuri vėliau buvo pervadinta „Turasky Meat Co”.

Galbūt pelningiausi lietuvių verslai buvo karčiamos, kurių Springfielde buvo daug. Kastas Stočkus su žmona turėjo „Fairview” taverną ir restoraną. Vilius Blažis vadovavo „White City” tavernai. Jonas Rekašius įkūrė karčiamą „Welcome Inn”. Kitų karčiamų savininkai buvo Jurgis Lapinskas, Peter Jumbras ir J. Vilčauskas. Kai kuriems lietuviams pavyko įsitvirtinti profesijose: Augustas Vyšniauskas (Wisnosky) dirbo Illinois National Bank, Alfredas Urbanskas buvo dantistas, Izidorius Jakštis (Yakstis) – advokatas.

Keletas knygos skyrelių pasakoja apie lietuvius, pasauliniuose karuose tarnavusius JAV karinėse pajėgose. John J. Straukas dalyvavo JAV puolime ties Meuse-Argonne prieš pat 1918 m. lapkričio paliaubas. Tai buvo kruviniausias Pirmojo pasaulinio karo mūšis, pakreipęs karo eigą sąjungininkų naudai. Už pasiaukojimą karo metu Straukui išimties tvarka buvo suteikta JAV pilietybė. Grįžęs į Springfieldą Straukas dirbo staliumi.

Šv. Vincento bažnyčios vargonininkas Aleksandras Aleksis sustiprino chorą ir atgaivino lietuvių kultūrinę veiklą. 1923 m. jo parašytą operetę „Į Tėvynę” atliko Springfieldo Lietuvos vyčių choras. Aleksis gebėjo lietuvių vardą „pagerinti” ir tarp amerikiečių – laikraštis Springfield Journal Register, anksčiau labiau pabrėždavęs lietuvių muštynes ar nusikaltimus, rugpjūčio 1923 m. straipsnyje rašė: „An intense love for music is a national characteristic of the Lithuanian people”.

Antrąją lietuvių kartą stipriai paveikė asimiliacija, iš dalies gal dėl to, kad Šv. Vincento parapija nebuvo įkūrusi pradžios mokyklos. Dauguma lietuvių perėmė amerikietiškus papročius, tačiau viena lietuviška tradicija išliko – vestuvės. 1927 m. rugsėjo 25–27 d. Kasavičių namuose vyko šventė – Ievos Kasavičiūtės ir Viktoro Alane (Alaunis) vestuvės. Stalai buvo apkrauti lietuviškų patiekalų, svečiams buvo siūlomas naminis alus, midus ir kiti gėrimai. Vyko kaimiški šokiai, orkestrą sudarė smuikininkas, klarnetistė ir akordeonistas. Buvo linksminamasi tris dienas iki vėlyvo vakaro.

Per Antrąjį pasaulinį karą 68 Šv. Vincento parapiečiai buvo pašaukti arba savanoriavo JAV karo tarnyboje. George Snečkus tarnavo karo aviacijoje, jo orlaivis buvo pašautas, ir jis žuvo kelios dienos prieš Normandijos puolimą. Jo ir kitų veteranų pavardės buvo įrašytos atminimo lentoje Šv. Vincento bažnyčioje. Knygoje aprašytas Prezidento Antano Smetonos apsilankymas Springfielde 1941 m. gegužę ir jo garbei suruoštas priėmimas Illinois kapitoliuje. Illinois seime jis pasakė kalbą, papasakodamas amerikiečiams apie Lietuvos okupaciją.

Po karo atvykusiems lietuviams Šv. Vincento parapija buvo pirmoji stotelė. Iš naujai atvykusių buvo ir Sandy Baksys tėvas, papasakojęs vietiniams apie komunistų klastą ir jų skelbiamą melą. Nors Bakšys paliudijo apie inteligentų lietuvių areštus ir trėmimus į Sibirą, dalis Springfield lietuvių tuo nepatikėjo. Bakšys dėl to labai nusivylė ir išgyveno.

1956 m. Šv. Vincento Pauliečio parapija šventė 60-ies metų jubiliejų. Tuo metu klebonavo kun. Stasys Junkeris. Keičiantis energijos rinkai, mažėjo anglies paklausa, ėmė užsidaryti anglies kasyklos. Lietuviai iš Springfieldo pradėjo keltis į didesnius miestus. Sumažėjus parapiečių, 1972 m., Šv. Vincento parapija buvo uždaryta.

„A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield” patraukia skaitytoją, nes autorė atskleidžia mažai žinomus faktus ir įdomiausius lietuvių imigrantų gyvenimo įvykius. Pagrindiniai personažai yra paprasti darbininkai, asmenys, kurie istorijoje paprastai pamirštami. Knygoje pateikti duomenys gana tikslūs, autorės stilius lengvas, be dirbtinio akademiškumo. Knyga skirta tiek amerikiečių, tiek lietuvių skaitytojams.

Šią knygą: Sandy Baksys. „A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield, Illinois”, 2016, Middletown, DE. 330 psl., galima įsigyti „Draugo” knygyne. Tel. 773-585-9500.

By William Cellini, Jr.

(Editor’s Note: This is third and last in a series of Lithuanian grocery family profiles. All can be found in the expanded 2016 edition of my book, “A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield,” now for sale on amazon.com and at Noonan’s Hardware on N. Grand Ave.)

Joseph Yucus, Sr., [Juozapas Jučas or Jocius] emigrated to the U.S. from Lithuania around 1898 and moved to Du Bois, Penn., where he found work as a coal miner. According to U.S. Census information, he lived in Sandy Township near the Eriton bituminous coalmine and by 1909, the mine loaded 2,600 tons of coal annually and employed about 526 men and boys. While in Sandy Township, he likely met fellow Lithuanian immigrant, Sara ‘Sadie’ Tomkevich [Tamkevičius]. They married and had three children live to adulthood; Anthony or Tony (1902-1941); Joseph, Jr., (1906-1973) and Mary (1909-1934).

In 1910, the family moved from the Keystone State to the Land of Lincoln and by 1913, Joseph, Sr., was operating a tavern on Peoria Road near Elizabeth Street while Sadie’s brother-in-law, Charles Rumbutis (he married Sadie’s sister Helen), was operating a tavern in downtown Springfield, according to the Springfield City Directory of 1912. The Yucus family lived on Springfield’s North End in the Devereux Heights neighborhood with its mix of Italians, Spanish, Slovaks and fellow Lithuanians.

When Springfield citizens voted the town dry following a 1917 referendum, all tavern business was halted, although many owners re-applied for “soft drink licenses” to keep their establishments running. In certain cases, liquor sales still continued at great legal risk to the tavern owner and to the patron. There is no indication, however, that Joseph, Sr., covertly sold alcohol—to the contrary, he complied with an earlier ‘lid’ law, whereby taverns were ordered to close doors at midnight and cease operations on Sunday. In one instance, club-wielding Lithuanian miners became enraged after Yucus shut his doors at midnight. They attacked the tavern, wreaking havoc by breaking windows and hurling a brick through the front window that, “narrowly missed injuring Yucus’ wife [Sadie],” per the account in the Illinois State Journal.For Joseph, Sr., the attack was the last straw. He left the tavern business and went back to being a miner, finding work at the Devereux mine near his home.

Joe Yucus’ Son Tony: Grocer and Entrepreneur

Misfortune struck the family in 1920 when Joseph, Sr., died from heart failure–leaving behind his 37 year-old wife and three children. Sadie found support for herself and her family by re-marrying to Charles Cook (Kutkevicius), a Lithuanian immigrant who ran a grocery store on Springfield’s North End. Tony was the eldest Yucus son and he was still at home with his two siblings, but old enough to have a paying job as a deliveryman for an ice company. He also worked at the International Shoe Company on North 11th Street and with his brother Joe, Jr., at the Cook & Yucus grocery with their stepfather, Charles.

Tony realized if he wanted to avoid the coal mines, he needed to create his own business. By 1926, he was operating his own grocery at Sangamon Avenue and North 17th Street. According to public records, that North 17th Street store (built in 1913) and the attached family home had a history of Lithuanian ownership back to at least 1909. Joseph and Helen Mankevich (Mankevičius) owned the residence just prior to Tony–they also owned the grocery at 1700 Sangamon Ave. that Tony purchased.

Snow White Laundry opening, 1927, from left: Tony Yucus, Charles Stevens, and Eli Cellini.  Cellini Family Collection. Stevens ID by his daughter Anna (Stevens) Graichen.

Tony Yucus & The Snow White Laundry

Tony was a hard worker, as were all the Yucus clan, thanks to their determination to succeed. In 1927, according to the Journal, Tony incorporated the Snow White Laundry with Charles Stevens and Eli Cellini, an Italian who moved to Springfield in 1923 with his parents and siblings.*

They built a facility in the 1700 block of Peoria Road, and the business even had its own baseball team, “The Snow White Laundry Nine,” which competed against Paris Cleaners and other businesses in town. Into their 13th straight win, Snow White was pitted against the “Lithuanian Alliance Club” of Salisbury, Ill, according to the Aug. 18, 1929 Illinois State Journal. Newspaper reports also show Tony’s grocery had a team, “The Yucus Nine,” that played in the same league, termed “semipro” by Springfield newspapers.

Brother Joe Opens ‘The Mecca’

The Snow White Laundry was ultimately sold and it became “The New Snow White Laundry” under the management of Joe Yucus, Jr. In addition, Joe transformed an old garage next to the laundry into a “beer and lunch tavern” he called “The Mecca.” Joe, Jr., later sold the tavern to the Corcoran family, whose daughter Jean married Leonard Naumovich, another Lithuanian-American from the North End.

Interior, the new Snow White Laundry. Joe Yucus is probably the man standing, with tie. Glass plate collection, State Journal-Register.

Meanwhile, Tony Yucus continued with his grocery at 17th and Sangamon, and to make extra money, he rented a portion of his building to boarders. He married Margaret Catherine Yuronis, the daughter of Lithuanian immigrants Michael Yuronis (Juronis) and Katerine Kriscunas (Krisciunas). Tony and Margaret had two children, Kenny Joe and Patricia, and lived in a house next to the family grocery.

In the 1930s, Tony’s store became a “Clover Farm Grocery” via an out-of-state corporate franchise. Clover Farm had stores in the Northeast, South and Midwest. Under the franchise, local distributors supplied owners like Tony, selling them goods at lower prices compared to independent family groceries without access to bulk purchasing. Clover Farm corporate provided assistance with merchandising and record-keeping, too.

According to the 1931 Springfield City Directory, in addition to Tony’s store, three more Lithuanian-American owned groceries were Clover-branded: the Victor Bozis Grocery, the Peter Urbis Grocery and Cook & Yucus. With the end of federal alcohol Prohibition in 1933, Tony’s store re-introduced beer, as did many other stores and licensed “soft drink parlors.”

Mary (Yucus) Blazis, SJ-R, 1933.

Suing for Wages Lost to Family Business

It was in this euphoric post-Prohibition period that Mary Yucus wed John Blazis, the son of Kasia and Andrew “Matt” Blazis (Blažys or Blažaitis) in 1933. John Blazis had worked as a clerk and a manager Cook & Yucus grocery, so it is assumed Sadie’s daughter met John while he was working there. The marriage came to a tragic end when Mary died at the young age of twenty-five in 1934. Adding to the family’s pain, John Blazis then sued his former mother-in-law Sadie over the ownership rights to a property on Peoria Road titled in Mary’s name but purchased by Sadie.

The case went to the Illinois Supreme Court, which they ruled in Sadie’s favor. According to the April 9, 1937 Journal, Blazis also tried to sue Sadie for back-wages owed him from when he quit his job in a coal mine to go and work at the grocery. John Blazis’ lawsuits open a window into the opportunity costs of working in family businesses that often paid small salaries to family workers while pouring most of their gains back into the business or into real estate investments. It is plausible John found himself pushed out of the family business once his marriage connection to Mary was severed by her death. The outcome of Blazis’ back-pay suit was not published and his subsequent whereabouts are not known.

Tapocik’s grocery, Sangamon Recorder of Deeds, 1967.

Yucus Grocery Becomes Tapocik’s Market

In 1941 tragedy again struck the Yucus family when Tony died at the age of thirty-nine following a long illness. Tony’s wife Margaret continued the grocery, but in 1952 she sold it to Andrew Tapocik, a son of Slovak immigrants who lived in the neighborhood. He re-named the establishment “Tapocik’s Grocery,” and it became a fixture on Sangamon Avenue until its closure in the early 1970s.

In 1947, Sadie (Yucus) Cook, the matriarch of the Yucus family, passed away. Joe, Jr., closed his New Snow White Laundry shortly after WWII, likely due to labor shortages during the war, evidenced by staffing vacancies seen in Springfield newspapers of the era. Around the time of its closure, Joe, Jr., and his wife (the former Miss Ina Dalby) moved out of the North End to be closer to Lake Springfield. Joe was an avid fisherman, boater and a long-time member-officer of the Springfield Yacht Club. He died in 1973 at the age of 67.

*Eli Cellini was born in Scanno, Italy. Unable to work in the mines due to a paralyzing accident from his youth, he worked in Springfield as a barber. He was the author’s great-uncle.

Speaking at the Elijah Iles House, Springfield, Sept. 23, 2015.

More than 60 people attended the first public presentation of my book, “A Century of Lithuanians in Springfield, Illinois”  last night. The room was so packed that Senator Dick Durbin’s wife Loretta had to sit out of sight, but hopefully, not out of earshot, on the stairs.

The event was held in the beautifully-appointed basement of the Elijah Iles House–the oldest surviving home in Springfield, where Abraham Lincoln once socialized and played cards.

The best thing about the evening was finally being with the Lithuanian-Americans for whom I had spent so many lonely hours writing the book–feeling their excitement and seeing how important it was to them. For 90 minutes, I was the sold-out author of a best-seller. Does it get any better than that?

Gov. Bruce Rauner was invited to stop by our book “pre-party” at an outdoor restaurant downtown. In the photo below, I am standing (in white at right) to shout across the table to him about our Lithuanian-American group and our history in Springfield. He asked the name of my book and probably won’t find the title hard to remember.

Some in our group posed for selfies. Others quietly gritted their teeth. Politics aside, it added to my evening to be able to have the unexpected opportunity to put Lithuania on the governor’s radar, even in such a small way.

Two sisters traveled all the way from St. Paul, Minnesota to be here for the launch: Terri White and Kathy White DeGrote–descendants of Springfield’s Lithuanian Gilletties-Cooper family. Other attendees at the book presentation were Bob Narmont, Connie Klutnick and her sister Sue Tin, Romualda Sidlauskas Capranica and her daughter Diane, Joan Naumovich, Kathy Begando, Pamela Shadis, Kristina Mucinskas, Pat Towner and Barb Devine, and Sandy and Claudio Pecori. Lithuanian-American Club officers Rick Dunham and Irena Sorrells, who took both of these photos, also shared in the occasion.

My dedicated volunteer book researcher Tom Mann attended with his wife Mary (Naumovich) Mann, and so did Melinda McDonald, the original inspiration for my blog and my most faithful supporter, brain trust, and idea bank through the entire life cycle of my book project. Couldn’t have done it without them!

Three members of the Kaylor clan from Riverton and Linda Mann Fleming of Taylorville also honored us with their presence.

Thank you so much, everyone who shared this very special evening. I woke up this morning with the afterglow of knowing that at least for Lithuanians Springfield, I have produced a book that is unique in all the world.