NAME(S) ON TILE:                 MIKE AND MARY YAKSICH FAMILY

DONOR NAME(S):                   MILDRED Y. NEISH

The year is 1901.  Two young immigrants, one from Yugoslavia and one from Hungary, travel a perilous journey to the New World.  After six weeks on a tempestuous sea, the Statue of Liberty comes into view - a glorious symbol of freedom in the eyes of all immigrants.

Sixteen year old Mike Yaksich had departed from Srpske Moravice, Yugoslavia to work with his brother, Sam in a Yukon, Pennsylvania coal mine.

Mary Gerencsir left Budapest, Hungary to be reunited with her brother, Joseph, in Eveleth, Minnesota.

Ten years later in Central City, Pa., at a mining camp, their paths crossed, and they fell in love.  In 1913, they married and moved to Pittsburgh in search of a new life.  Since Mary was an excellent cook, they decided to venture into the Rooming-house and Restaurant business, which was located on Water Street (now called Fort Pitt Blvd.).  Their twenty immigrant boarders were tunneling through the mountain to build the Liberty Tunnels.

Between 1914 and 1930, the following children were born: Michael, Mary, Mildred, Dorothy, Helen, Caroline, and Samuel.  From Mary’s first marriage were Joseph, Frank, Catherine, and George.

Through hard work and endless hours, the business prospered and the family enjoyed a comfortable lifestyle.

Our parents came to America with visions of unlimited possibilities and they experienced the good life that America offered them, yet they never forgot from whence they came.