Elaine Viola Pauline Yuhas (Warner) Obituary (1927

Elaine Viola Pauline Warner Yuhas passed away in Dallas, Texas, at age 94 after a brief illness. She was active and healthy until the very end. Born on February 8, 1927, in Franklin Park, Illinois, she was a gifted, loving, and kind-hearted spirit who always put others before herself. As a first-generation daughter of a German (Prussian) immigrant couple, Elaine was an adventurer and risk-taker with an insatiable curiosity, exploring the rural farms, tall grass prairie, and Patawatomi Indian burial grounds near her home, climbing trees and playing on boxcars while her father worked as an inspector for the Milwaukee Road Railroad, and riding her bicycle to the "old orchard" field that became O'Hare International Airport (ORD) hoping to see an airplane. In her later years, she took many adventurous trips across America, including flying in a Dehavilland Tiger Moth open cockpit biplane. Elaine was an excellent student involved in many activities, such as playing baritone horn in marching band, editing her high school newspaper and yearbook, and planning the VJ Day celebration at her school. She hailed from a long line of church leaders, including a horseback-riding itinerant pastor, and her family was heavily involved in the building and ministry of St. Paul's Evangelical and Reformed Church in Franklin Park, which still stands today. Elaine attended Elmhurst College (Illinois) where Elaine met many friends, a dozen of whom started a "Round Robin" newsletter that still circulates today. She was a talented singer, performing as a soloist and founding member of Elmhurst College's a cappella touring group, The Polyhymnia. She later became a member of the famous Robert Shaw Chorale, as well as the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus under the direction of George Szell. After graduating from Elmhurst, Elaine was forced to make one of the hardest decisions of her life: whether to pursue a career in the ministry or go into nursing. She chose the latter, thereby moving to Cleveland, Ohio, to attend one of the premier nursing schools in the country on a scholarship, the Frances Payne Bolton School of Nursing, today part of Case Western Reserve University. She graduated as a Registered Nurse with her Master of Nursing degree and worked at University Hospital in Cleveland as the Head Nurse of the 45 North Division (Women's Medicine), where her kind and compassionate wisdom changed the lives of many. Elaine married Nick T. Yuhas, Jr., her husband of 58 years, and left nursing to raise their family of three talented children. The couple settled in Euclid, and she became a force of nature, managing her husband's businesses while running a busy household. They shared a love of music and a care for people rarely seen in the modern world. Elaine had incredible strength, resilience, and a love for all. She taught herself to cook, to harvest and can applesauce from her garden, and was a wealth of information on alternative medicine and skills now being lost to technology. She enjoyed outdoor pursuits and loved the Colorado mountains, an influence that transformed the lives of her daughters. Elaine attended (Euclid) Nottingham Baptist Church for more than five decades and was passionate about her spiritual life, as well. The world is diminished by her passing, but her indomitable, fun-loving spirit lives on in the lives she touched so deeply. Loving mother of daughters Stephanie, Roberta (Arne) Vasenden, and Anita (Michael) Wilson. Dear grandmother of Elisa (who called her Grandcracker), Sydney and Troy. She was preceded in death by her husband, Nick T. Yuhas, Jr., her parents, Adolph and Natalie (nee Dieter) Warner, and her sister, Virginia (husband Rev. Frederick G. Traut, also deceased) and loved her many nieces, nephews, and relatives. The family will receive family, friends and all those who wish to celebrate her life from 10-11 AM on THURSDAY, JULY 1, with Funeral Service at 11:00 AM at NOTTINGHAM BAPTIST CHURCH, 2921 Bishop Road, Willoughby Hills, Ohio 44092. Interment at LAKE VIEW CEMETERY will follow at 12:45 PM, where her husband, Nick T. Yuhas, Jr. will also be buried with military honors.