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Christine Yenny finds some vital family treasures

Christine Yenny has been going through things, like many of us do from time to time, as we accumulate objects, items and, best of all, memories, over the years.

Christine was  “digging around” recently when she ran across some real treasures, ones that brought back memories of her family and her childhood days, and one item even brought back the memory of some very interesting and intriguing family history of long ago.
Meet, or get re-acquainted with, Christine Yenny, who consented to share her story with us, including the time when she climbed up on the wings of airplanes to put gas in them at the airport.
Christine is an individual who kind of “marches to the beat of a different drummer, sometimes,” but is an honest and caring person, with a heart of gold. She is a loyal friend whose conversation can be direct, but true, and very interesting as she recalls the times gone by.       
Christine …
… “down on the Carlyle Road and went to school at Evans School. I went there for eight years,” she said.  
Christine was one of three children born to George and Ellen (Hoffman) Yenny.  A brother, Russell, and a sister, Ellen, are deceased. Ellen was a school teacher.   
When the subject of former employment came up, Christine said, laughingly, that she has worked “everyplace.”  
Her mother worked at the Dieckman Hotel, which was located at the site of the former Tri-City Grocery Store and is now occupied by First National Bank and the bank parking lot.
Christine said that she went with her mother to work at the hotel when she was a kid. “I don’t think I helped her work,” she said. “I guess I just needed a baby sitter; not really a baby sitter, but I was just too young to stay at home by myself.”
From Cleaning Offices to Gassing Up Planes
“Later, I worked at cleaning offices and, when I was just out of high school, I worked out at the airport, gassing up planes. I worked out there in the coldest weather, when Thurman Settle was at the airport,” she said. “That was in Bear Grove Township, when the FAA (Federal Aviation Agency) was in part of the building, but I was helping the Settles. “
“I was working there when Settle said, “Hey, I want you for a lineman, and I said, ‘What’s that?’ Christine said. “He said, ‘I’ll show you,’ and he showed me how to flag the planes as they came in, to circle around to get to the gas pump.”
“I’d get my stepladder out and crawl out upon the wing to put the gas in the airplane. I wore white coveralls with red letters that said Settle’s Flying Service on them.
“Settle told me that the pilots would come in and ask about me and if I would like to fly, and he told them, ‘I don’t know, you will have to ask her.’
“I said, ‘I’ve never been up,’ and they said, ‘That will never do.’
Christine did finally fly. “First, I went by Lincoln School, where my sister, Ellen taught, and told her that I was going to go up in a plane this afternoon. She rummaged around and brought out a paper sack, and said,  “Here, you will need this,” Christine said.
Christine said that she didn’t need the paper sack, but the pilot took the plane up so fast, so high, that she was ready to go back down to the ground.
“I looked out and thought, where did the ground go? But it was fun,” she said. “We circled around over town and over the farm where I used to live. I saw some little things that looked like little mushrooms or puffballs and I said, ‘What is that?   It was the tanks at Patoka tank farm and they looked like marshmallows.”
On a somber note, Christine said that both Thurman Settles and his wife flew the small planes. She later learned that they had hit the side of a  mountain and were both killed.  
She said the airport is much nicer now and bigger than in those days when she worked there.
Johnson, Stevens & Shinkle Shoe Factory
She worked at the J.S.& S. Shoe Factory on Randolph Street just a few weeks before they moved to the new building on South Coles Street.
Christine’s Treasures
The Basket – Christine had mentioned finding an old snow shovel made of wood during her “digging,” and the shovel was the reason for my visit to her. However, when entering her home, I noticed a large woven basket sitting in the middle of the floor. It had large holes in two opposite side of it, and a wooden handle. It was apparently very old and much used in the past. I was soon to learn that the basket had not been left in the living room floor casually, but for a purpose – there is a fascinating story with it.
“If it wasn’t for that basket, I wouldn’t be here,” she said, and then shared the story of the basket that her dad had told her many times over the years.
The story took place in the Netherlands, where the Germans had increased presence and pressure along the borders.
Before World War II, persecution had begun against the Jewish people.  Christine’s dad’s great-great-grandmother was married to a Jewish man and they wanted to escape the Netherlands and the persecution against the Jewish people.  
They were fleeing the country and they had a small baby. They put kindling wood in the bottom of the basket, placed the baby on top of the kindling and then covered the baby with more kindling. They carried the basket between them, each holding on to the wooden handle.
When they got to the border, armed guards stopped them and one of the guards asked them what they were doing.  
They told the guard they were taking kindling into town to sell to the rich people, The guard said  (the equivalent of) ‘Oh, Yeah’ and ran his sword through one side of the basket clear through the other side.  The places can be seen in the basket sides. The baby did not cry, and was not injured. The guard then let them go on.
Christine said had they been discovered, her dad would not have been born and, therefore, she would not be here.
The family eventually came to the United States. The baby’s name was Hilmena and she was Christine’s great-great-grandmother. The family fleeing was that of  Hilma and Karl Spruch, and they are buried in the Evans Cemetery.
The family has kept the basket all these years and it is one of Christine’s family treasures.
The Snow Shovel …
… was also found during Christine’s digging and is unique in that it is all wood, except for a narrow strip of metal along the “scooping” edge. The handle is made of one piece of wood, which is split and bowed out to form a frame for the gripping part of the handle.
Christine said that her grandmother never threw anything away, her mother didn’t, either. Christine said, “I don’t either.”
Thus, the family treasures have remained to remind them of their history.
                                  
 

Christine Yenny is pictured with a couple of family treasures.

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