If you've ridden the shuttle from the landside terminal to the airside terminal at Pittsburgh International Airport, you can thank Charles Yuhas, who spent 11 years attending night school to gain the degree, knowledge and experience to work on that project.
“When he was 30 years old, he had three boys at home, he was working full-time, and he was going to night school at Pitt to get his degree in mechanical engineering,” said Mr. Yuhas' son Philip. “He was strict, he was a disciplinarian, but he was very loving and he never let us down.”
Charles A. Yuhas, of North Huntingdon, died Sunday, April 22, 2018, of complications from Parkinson's disease. He was 87.
Mr. Yuhas was born March 11, 1931, in McKeesport, a son of the late John and Elizabeth (Egley) Yuhas.
He graduated from McKeesport Vocational and Technical School and began working as a draftsman for Westinghouse, eventually attending night school at the University of Pittsburgh to earn a bachelor's degree.
At his graduation ceremony, he met his wife, Joan, who was attending with a friend who was dating Mr. Yuhas' cousin.
“They met, and it went pretty well from there,” Philip said.
For more than five decades, Mr. Yuhas designed mass transit systems.
“The earliest memory I have is of him flying out to San Francisco to work on the Bay Area Rapid Transit system,” Philip Yuhas said. “I still have a Japanese scroll hanging on my wall that he brought back from Japan when he was there working on a transit system.”
Mr. Yuhas' son Vincent said his father often traveled for work.
“He went to San Francisco, to New York to work on the subway system, to the Tampa and Pittsburgh airports,” Vince said. “He went to Japan, Paris, Brazil and Germany a few times as well.”
But Mr. Yuhas always made time for his family.
“He was always there for sports and music lessons and to help with our homework,” Philip said.
Sometimes, the help went a little too far.
“The standing joke was that if you asked Dad a question, be ready for a long answer,” Vince said. “He was always a teacher.”
Before he died, Mr. Yuhas also saw a longtime goal realized.
“My mom has a kimono that my dad brought back 40 years ago from Japan,” Philip said. “She never wore it — she thought it was ‘too beautiful' to wear — and my dad always told her, ‘Wear the dang thing!'”
The day before his death, Mrs. Yuhas wore the kimono to her granddaughter's baby shower.
“My dad was on life support, but we got to tell him how great Mom looked in the kimono,” Philip said.
Mr. Yuhas is survived by his wife of 66 years, Joan (Danko) Yuhas; four sons, Michael Yuhas and his wife, Cia, of Parker, Colo.; Vincent Yuhas of Ellicott City, Md.; Philip Yuhas and his wife, Carrie, of Orange, Calif.; and Martin Yuhas and his wife, Kimberly, of North Huntingdon; four grandchildren and two great-grandchildren.
Friends will be received from 2 to 4 and 6 to 8 p.m. today, Wednesday, at Ott Funeral Home, 805 Pennsylvania Ave. in Irwin. A funeral service will be at 9:30 a.m. at St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church, 200 Leger Road in Irwin, with interment to follow at St. Joseph Cemetery and Mausoleum in North Versailles.
Memorial donations can be made to the Parkinson's Foundation at Parkinson.org, or to St. Elizabeth Ann Seton Church.
Patrick Varine is a Tribune-Review staff writer. Reach him at 724-850-2862, pvarine@tribweb.com or via Twitter @MurrysvilleStar.
