Jennie Fedorow YORK

Jennie Fedorow York, 86, of 1246 Kentucky St., Quincy, died on Friday (Jan. 7, 2011) in Blessing Hospital Intensive Care Unit following hip surgery.

Jennie was born on March 24, 1924, to Ukrainian immigrant parents, Peter and Mary Fedorow. She was sister to George, Olga, Anne, Paul, Walter and Helen. She married William S. York on Aug. 29, 1953. He died Aug. 24, 1996.

Jennie Fedorow honorably attained "life membership" status, elected July 27, 1939, from the Chicago Federation of Musicians Local 10-208 American Federation of Musicians.

Jennie and her three sisters, Olga, Anne and Helen, formed a musical group called The Fedorow Sisters, and toured with the WLS Radio National Barn Dance in the 1930s and 1940s. They performed as Chicago comedian, actor and country music singer George Gobel's backup band, touring the Midwest with the WLS Barn Dance. Broadcast by WLS-AM radio in Chicago starting in 1924, the WLS Barn Dance was one of the first American country music radio programs and a direct precursor of the Grand Ole Opry. The WLS Barn Dance regularly featured Gene Autry, Eddie Dean, Lulu Belle and Scotty, Pat Buttram, George Gobel and Andy Williams in a quartet with his three brothers, to name a few.

The Fedorow Sisters slowly disbanded in the late 1950s as the sisters married and started their own families. Jennie continued her lifelong passion, working musically from coast to coast, settling down in Southern California in 1970. She continued to work musically full-time through 1995.

Jennie moved back to her Illinois roots in 2006, and continued to pull out her accordion for special appearances, including some local Adams County performances at the historic Golden Windmill's "Octoberfest," again at Christmas at the Mill in Golden and at several Adams County nursing homes. Jennie was featured on WGEM-TV as one of its weekly "Senior Sparkle" segments.

Jennie was always there to lend a hand, a true social butterfly despite having Alzheimer's disease, helping her son, Bill, with chores on their farm, bottle feeding calves, and keeping a watchful eye over a flock of endangered species of chickens being raised for the Genetics Department of the Chicago Museum of Science and Industry and a small herd of buffalo, along with a few other farm animals that kept Jennie on her toes and entertained.

She has always been an inspiration and role model to family members and friends, known for her famous turkey dinners with all the trimmings, along with a few Ukrainian specialty dinners of which the recipes have been handed down to a few select family members.

Jennie enjoyed shopping and getting out visiting friends around town and anyone who she would run into, grabbing their hands and giving them a gentle kiss on their hand, along with a few sweet and encouraging words, ending with "God Bless You!"

She is survived by her three sons, William "Bill" York, John York and Wayne York; grandchildren, Jonathan York, Jeffrey York, Jennifer York, Danny York, Heather York and Brittany York; three great-grandchildren; and her younger sister, Helen Fedorow Kinnavy.

SERVICES: noon Saturday in the Hansen-Spear Funeral Home, with Pastor Jim Trutwin conducting.

VISITATION: 11 a.m. to noon Saturday in the funeral home.

ARRANGEMENTS: Hansen-Spear Funeral Home.

WEBSITE: www.hansenspear.com.

Condolences may be expressed online at www.whig.com.