We got some e-mail yesterday that Robert (Bob) Yonco,
"a past president of the Argonne Folk Dancers...[who] loved international dancing" according to his
obituary, recently passed away. I think he must have been before my time, but some of you who have been around longer might remember him.
http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicagotribune/obituary.aspx?page=lifestory&pid=185797794
There's a photo that includes him on the
ethnicdance.net page for Herman Johnson's 90th celebration:
http://www.ethnicdance.net/herman_johnson/herman_gallery_90th_birthday-1.html
Bob Yonco was my dad. He was active in the Argonne group from around 1962-3 until the high impact nature of folk dancing took both him and my mom, Fran, away from folk dancing, around 1982 (they square danced for around 10 years after that :-).
ReplyDeleteMy dad was "President" for awhile, and as such, had records of his days in the club.
My mom and I have been sorting through a lot of their stuff, as we move my mom out of their house, and came across some "archives": detailed accounts of AFD picnics held on the Argonne campus, "Macedonian dance weekend" programs from Mt Horeb, and many many dance instruction sheets.
When I was little, the folk dancers would do shows for groups in the community. At at least a couple, I was his dance partner in the "Zilertaler Landler". I was pretty small at the time (probably 8 or 9), and the audiences appreciated the acrobatics displayed in the dance between a dad and his daughter (I think I even took a shoe to the head in one performance :-).
Many years later, we performed it as our dad/daughter dance at my wedding ��
I have MANY fond memories of Friday nights at the Rec Center, Herman Johnson's barn dances, Camp Wonderland weekends, dancing around the candle for the "Licko Kolo", and the many lovely people involved in folk dancing.
Im so glad the group still exists.
Nancy,
ReplyDeleteOur sympathy on the loss of your dad. Thanks for sharing your memories. We'd be happy to see you some Friday, if you'd like to come dance for old times sake!
Linda