Mary Hinni Yena

Meet Mary Hinni Yena

“We’d sit in the bleachers and we’d just be like, Holy Cow! This used to be ours. You know. It was just awesome that our land and our house turned into a football field…many years later, I go up there sometimes and I just get verklempt and kind of teary-eyed.”

Watch the Conversation Here

Biography

When Mary Hinni Yena was very little, she lived in Brookfield. She and her family had never been to Western Springs until the day in 1960 when the family drove to the Lyons Township High School South Campus to get the Dr. Albert Sabin oral polio vaccine. Her grandmother, Helen, had polio so the family knew the importance of these vaccines. On the day they reported to vaccine distribution, the Hinni family was also introduced to LT and learned more about Western Springs and the new church & school, St. John of the Cross, that was just being built. From that day on, her parents, Patricia and Charles Hinni, hoped to find a house so they could move their family to Western Springs.

The family found the house of their dreams in October 1961: the 93-year-old Perot Farmhouse near the southwest corner of 47th Street and Willow Springs Road (as pictured to the right). As the story goes, the Perots were farmers for Vaughan’s Seed Store which was convenient because Vaughan’s owned the property all around the farmhouse. The original address for the farmhouse was 4720 Summit. It was a large piece of property with no nearby neighbors for the first two years and with tons of room for kids to run around. There were rabbits, mice, and birds everywhere. The Hinnis had a huge garden, fruit trees, and a dog named Tuxedo!

The address of this farmhouse was changed later to 4720 Ellington, but the farmhouse isn’t there anymore. Vaughan’s sold off their land to LT High School . The high school also approached the Hinnis to sell their house, too, so that the high school could build the football field now known as Benett Field. Although they agreed to sell the house, the Hinnis were “crushed and sad because we loved the house, but we knew it was the right thing to do.” LT tore the house down and built the football field, the Hinni family moved to 3903 Rose Avenue on the north side of town. Once she was married, Mrs. Yena raised her own family in LaGrange Park, but Western Springs remains a very special place for her and her family. Mrs. Yena lived in Western Springs for 22 years. She has been a Yena for almost 50 years!

Mrs. Yena enjoyed growing up in Western Springs and has many beloved memories from her time in Western Springs. She lived with her mom, dad, and her siblings Judy, Joe, and John (whose nickname is Duck). Mrs. Yena and one of her brothers, Joe, were in the first class at St. John of the Cross when it opened in September 1961. Mrs. Yena was in 2nd grade and Joe was in 1st. Their younger brother, John, started school at Franklin Avenue School because St. John’s did not have a kindergarten.

Before they moved to 3903 Rose, Mrs. Yena still remembers walking with her brother through the big 1967 blizzard to get to St. John of the Cross parish school only to find out school was cancelled so they had to walk back home through the snow–the whole trip took hours! She also remembers how kind the nuns were to her family because her own mother was very sick. Growing up, one of her dearest friends was Maureen Fencl Hollander; the two still stay in contact and visit each other from time to time.

After graduating 8th grade, Mrs. Yena went to Lyons Township for high school. When she was a sophomore, Mrs. Yena’s friend, Connie, introduced her to Mr. Yena, who grew up in LaGrange Park. Later, when she was a junior, she and Mr. Yena went to homecoming together. On March 12, 1977, they were the 2nd couple married in the newly completed St. John of the Cross church building. Although Mr. Yena passed away a few years ago, next year they would have been married 50 years.

Mrs. Yena graduated from LT in 1972 with a graduating class of 1,392 which was one of the biggest classes ever. After LT, Mrs. Yena earned a business degree at Moser Business School. She worked downtown across from Union Station at a real estate company called Tishman Midwest Management.

Over time, the Yenas added three sons to their family: Michael, Matthew, and Mark. At McClure, Mark is known as Mr. Yena. He is our Health teacher and our 7th grade PE teacher. From 2003 to 2018, Mrs. Yena was the North Campus Bookstore Manager for Lyons Township High School. Mrs. Yena was also the original president of the LT Alumni Association and she recently attended her 50th class reunion. She’s retired now. In her “free time,” Mrs. Yena likes to see her 9 grandchildren, who she is very proud of. Mrs. Yena is now 72 years old and still thriving.

The Circus Comes to Town (Literally)

In the front yard of the Western Springs home where Mrs. Yena grew up, there were two big trees. One summer morning, she woke up to find two elephants tied to those trees. There were also lots of people putting up tents for the Mills Bros traveling circus. The circus manager gave her mom tickets for her family to go see the circus! The next morning, though, the elephants and the rest of the circus were all gone because they packed everything up in the night and moved on!

(NOTE: Many thanks to the Western Springs Historical Society for their help locating this newspaper clipping!)

Hey, Hey, There's The Monkees!

When she was a teenager, Mrs. Yena’s favorite band was The Monkees. As a gift, her parents got her 4 tickets to their concert. There were a lot of protests going on in Chicago at the time so the parents of her friends said their daughters could not go to the concert. Because her grandmother knew how much The Monkees concert meant to Mrs. Yena, her grandmother said she wasn’t afraid of any protestors and her grandma took Mrs. Yena to the concert. What a night! Now "I'm a Believer!"

A Spoon Full of Sugar Helps the Medicine Go Down

Mrs. Yena talked to us about how in 1960 she was able to receive the Sabin oral polio vaccine. The Cook County Board of Health sent area families notices to go to a Sabin Sunday vaccination event at the LTHS South Campus. When the Hinnis got there, they lined up and were each given a cup. In the cup, there was a sugar cube that had just a drop of the vaccination on it–the vaccine tasted SO awful that you needed the sweetness of the sugar! (Fact: this really did inspire the song from the musical Mary Poppins!)

This was the first time Mrs. Yena’s parents ever spent time driving around Western Springs. They immediately fell in love with the village and wanted to move here.

Western Springs Story

Mrs. Yena is a big part of the Western Springs community especially at LT High School and St. John of the Cross. She has SO many Western Springs stories. We learned a ton. Here are two more highlights from our conversation with her:

A Famous Neighbor. When the Hinni family moved to 3903 Rose in 1967, the Hasselhoff family moved from Atlanta to Western Springs around the same time. Mrs. Yena went to LT with David Hasselhoff and his sisters Joyce and Jean. Mr. Hasselhoff became a famous actor and singer when he starred in shows like Knight Rider and Baywatch and the soap opera The Young and the Restless. She had not seen Mr. Hasselhoff in 40 years and then she saw David in Las Vegas. David was very nice and remembered Mr. and Mrs. Yena even though it had been 40 years.

Olson’s Dry Goods. Mrs. Yena has always kept very busy–she likes to learn. When she was a freshman in high school, she started working at Olson’s Dry Goods which was a store right next door to Kirschbaum’s Bakery. Olson’s sold fabric, yarn, buttons, baby gifts, and clothing. Mrs. Yena enjoyed all the people she met while working at Olson’s because everyone in the village shopped at the small, family businesses along the railroad tracks. Mrs. Yena learned a lot from Olson’s Dry goods about business which is what she studied in college.

Changes Seen in Western Springs

Western Springs has changed a lot over time. These are some of the changes Mrs. Yena was able to experience:

Small Businesses Change:

Some stores have NOT changed. For example, stores like the True Value Hardware Store, the Fruit Store, and Kirschbaum’s Bakery have been here since Mrs. Yena was a child…and she expects they’ll be here for a long time to come.

Many stores have disappeared. She loved working at Olson’s Dry Goods. It taught her a lot of things about business, but it no longer exists. Odegaard's Laundry & Cleaners is gone and Brinker’s is now home to Casey’s Market. At the corner of Wolf Road by the gym it was first a Jewel, then they sold it and it turned into Tishler Finer Food…and now there is a condo building on that land. There was a jewelry store called Kings and Queen Jewelry where Mrs. Yena and her friends would buy their charms for charm bracelets. The most popular pizza restaurant was The Spaghetti Bowl. Mrs. Yena’s favorite place to hang out as a teenager was at Glen’s Local TV near the Fruit Store where they would buy 45s and albums.

Nowadays, many of Western Springs restaurants are on the corner like Hillgrove Tap and Davanti Enoteca are new and are very popular restaurants today. These help keep that community feel of being neighborly.

Homes and Transportation Change:

When the Hinnis moved here, the houses here in Western Springs were usually very spread out. For example, all of the land around the Hinni farmhouse was fields and tall grass which pulled a lot of animals to hide and live in the grass. Nowadays, houses are much bigger with garages for several cars and are worth a lot more money. The placement of the houses has also changed like Mrs. Yena's first home was on what is now Bennett Field!

All families usually owned one car. That car was typically used by an adult to go to work, so the others in the family would take a bus to wherever they wanted to go! Bus routes were constantly changing to new stops! Mrs. Yena would take the bus to go to OakBrook with her friends for a dollar. She would also take the train to Chicago and visit museums and other cool places.

Present and Future

Mrs. Yena has lived in or near Western Springs for most of her life. She has grown up seeing Western Springs change, but also stick to its values of family and community. She knows things that would make Western Springs better so these are the things she wants to see.

E-Scooter Safety. One of the things she emphasized is that she would like to see fewer e-scooters. She didn’t want e-scooters because she thinks that they can be unsafe for the people driving them or drivers on the road. At the least she wants people to wear helmets.

Inclusivity. Mrs. Yena hopes schools will be inclusive to all. During our chat she stated “I would hope that…. the schools would be inclusive to everyone's needs but yet, you have to be observant with everyone’s needs, not just certain groups, people.”

Describe Western Springs in 3 Phrases

Family - The old farmhouse where Mrs. Yena grew up was torn down to build a new LT football field, so Mrs. Yena’s parents moved the family to a different house in Western Springs. Mrs. Yena’s brother and sons played football at LT, including her son, Mr. Mark Yena, who is the 7th grade PE teacher and the Health teacher at McClure. The family had a brick installed in the Pride Walk that says “The Farmhouse Lives” to honor the connection between their family and LT’s Bennett Field. Mrs. Yena loves to take her 9 grandchildren to the parks in Western Springs. She also still visits the bleachers to sit and think about what a special place this field is to her whole family and her life’s story.
Beautiful - Mrs. Yena told us that “Life was good in Western Springs.” She chose this because she believed that Western Springs was a great and kind place to grow up in. She talked about how the community was very supportive and helpful. She wanted to capture that Western Springs was a great environment to grow up in because of the friendly community such as the small businesses in town which was always a special place to hang out.
Constantly Changing - Mrs. Yena showed through many examples of how much the streets, homes, and businesses have changed throughout her life in Western Springs. The homes and businesses are always changing, and have changed a lot since she was a kid. They even changed the addresses of some houses. Businesses come and go like Vaughan’s and Olson’s while others, like Kirschbaum’s and the hardware store, are still here. Lifestyles change, too. For example, she used to take the train downtown with her friends (and NO adults) to go to The Art Institute, shopping, and movies. Teenagers today don’t have that kind of freedom. She also misses The Five and Dime store—it used to be her favorite place in town!

Artists' Sketches

Sketch by Owen B. - "I am 13 years old, I have lived in Western Springs for my whole life. I went to Forest Hills Elementary and now McClure Jr High. I have been playing hockey since I was 4. I have a dog named Molly who is a terrier and lab mix. One of my favorite things to do is walk my dog and hang out with my friends."

Sketch by Harrison D. - "I am 12 years old and I go to McClure Junior High School in Western Springs. I have been living here since around 2020. My first school was Field Park, where I started going in 3rd grade. I play basketball and soccer, but I like basketball better. I really enjoyed playing basketball for McClure in 7th grade and I am thinking about trying something else for the school. I have a dog named Omar, he is an English Labrador. One of my favorite things to do is play basketball, and play with my dog. "

Sketch by Sofia F. - "I am 12 years old and I go to McClure Junior High. I have lived here for 6 ½ years. My first school was Field Park and I have gone there since 1st grade."

Sketch by Lucas J. - "I am 13 years old and I have lived in Western Springs my whole life and I go to McClure Junior High. I went to Field Park for elementary school. I do swimming as my sport."

Citation

Yena, Mary Henni. Personal Interview. 19 Feb. 2026.

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