John Yachwak, Jr.

John was born in Chisholm, Minnesota, on June 3, 1937, to Mary (Rohach) and John Yachwak, Sr.

In his younger years, “Yach” was a star athlete and the captain of the Chisholm High School basketball team. He was later also captain of the Hibbing Junior College basketball team which went on to compete in the national championship.

During a summer college break, John met his beautiful future wife, Mary Jo, at Choppy’s Pizza in Chisholm. Mary Jo took one look at John’s sparkling blue eyes and, as they say, the rest is history. John changed his major, from engineering to mathematics, and joined MJ at Bemidji State University, from where they both graduated in 1960.

John and Mary Jo married in 1961, and they had one daughter, Ann Marie, of whom John was very proud.

John taught mathematics for over 30 years at schools across the “Iron Range” and retired in 1993 after teaching many years at Hibbing High School. He always rooted for the underdog and encouraged his students to believe in themselves.

John was also a restauranteur, having owned and operated two family Dairy Queen franchises in nearby towns of Virginia and Eveleth, where he wrote his own computer programs in the earliest days of personal computers.

John was passionate about golf and cherished spending time with his golf buddies, including lifelong friends John (“Tingy”) Tingstad, Jerry (“Big Jer”) Erickson, David (“Leppie”) Leppanen, Tim (“Ace”) Gallagher, and Drew Frantsen. He was a founding member of the “Bandits” in Surprise, Arizona, where he organized and ran 65 golf tournaments during his retirement years. He rarely boasted about his five holes-in-one.

As an avid outdoorsman, John enjoyed boating, camping, fishing, hunting, snowmobiling, and curling. He absolutely loved his many Canadian fishing trips. John was a lifetime member of the fraternal order of the Elks.

JY was skilled in many hobbies, including drawing, photography, and woodworking. He especially enjoyed making elaborate photo collages of his golf tournaments and of family travels throughout the US, Canada, and Europe. Although at times quite frugal, John was very generous with his time and truly enjoyed helping others.

He is survived by his beloved wife of 62 years, Mary Jo (McCrady) Yachwak, who was also his loving and tireless caregiver right to the end; and by his dedicated daughter, Ann Yachwak, and her husband (“favorite son-in-law”), Peter Beatrice. John is also survived by aunts Julie (Rohach) Kruchoski and Lorna (Huikkala) Rohach and many cousins.

John was preceded in death by his dear parents and younger brother, David Yachwak.

John will be greatly missed by his family and by his many friends. The family would like to thank the teams at Southwest Kidney Institute and at Cardiac Solutions for the compassionate care provided to John over the past several years.

A Celebration of Life is being planned for the summer with Rupp Funeral Home and Cremation Services (www.ruppfuneralhome.com) in Chisholm, Minnesota. In lieu of flowers, please consider a memorial donation to the American Heart Association (heart.org), National Kidney Foundation (kidney.org), or to your preferred charitable cause.