Tributes for Joe Yuchasz
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Over the years I spent a lot of time asking Joe about the history of the club including members now deceased, fund raising efforts both successful and not so successful. He really enjoyed talking about the projects the club sponsored especially the harbor, the boardwalk on the north side of the Elk River under US 31 and Rotary Park. What I quickly learned was to set aside enough time when planning to ask Joe a question. He would enthusiastically get into answering my question and often wonder off into somewhat related (and sometimes not related) questions.
At some point he took me up the narrow winding staircase off the lobby of the theater to his office storage space and projection room. In that somewhat tight space, he had several file cabinets full of past weekly bulletins, Rotary Show programs and more. He allowed me to snoop through these files at my leisure. I wish I had done more of this so I could ask him more questions. But listening to the answers would have taken a lot of time. It would have been time well spent.
- Jim Sak
Wow! What a guy. With Joe’s history of growing up in Elk Rapids and the many years of active connections in the community the chances of knowing Joe and being part of something he offered or participated in was high. I recall when looking for a piano instructor for my son, the recommendation was, hands down, Joe Yuchasz.
For many of us, Joe’s music was our happy place and something we looked forward to as he brough his love of music to weekly Rotary meetings as he played the piano and led members through a few songs to kick off our meetings. As I recall being part of Rotary events that Joe supported, he was excited to open his cinema doors to bring the Iron Lung to Elk Rapids sharing Polio history and awareness with our community. Joe also unselfishly shared his Cinema as he supported Harbor Days to provide a children’s movie during festival week and shared space out front of the cinema for the announcers table, sound system and seating for seniors for the very popular Harbor Days parade. I will always be grateful for his
partnership.
One fun memory was when I would join “The Boys” now and again during their morning coffee at Java
Jones. There were always plenty of stories to tell and fun to poke. However, when that slowed down
Joe could always come up with a tid-bit to share. His history and knowledge of our town was
appreciated and interesting. He had such a detailed and amazing memory as far back as his childhood
and the development of the Harbor as he was at his father’s side through the journey.
Simply, love Joe from the factual direct serious side to the funny side with his wonderful laugh and big
smile.