Robert “Doc” Yario

“Hi Vince,

Thank you so much for any information about my father. It was hard to be his daughter at times, but I loved him and know he loved me. I didn’t know that you had a personal relationship with him until I received the IRA packet. I laughed and cried. Ironically, my Dad bragged about being the best pinochle player, but didn’t brag about his skills as a surgeon or a teacher or his generosity towards a patient or a perfect stranger. A few weeks before he died his radiation Doctor asked him how he could improve his quality of life and my Dad responded, ‘I’d like to be well enough to be able to take a drive and play pinochle with the boys again.’

Everybody vetoed his plan to teach in the Chicago Public Schools. Yes, he would have knocked out some cocky kid for sure. I saw a difference in him when he began taking classes and teaching at Triton. He regained that spark in his eye that was missing for some time. He was an excellent teacher to students who wanted to learn. He was always ready to explain medical concepts to me while I was in nursing school. I currently work with post-operative heart patients in a surgical ICU. It makes me miss him even more.

Even with my medical background, I didn’t realize how sick he was. I heard him on the phone sometimes with friends. he didn’t want friends and family to worry so he would say, ‘I feel like a million bucks.’ For somebody who was such a ‘straight shooter’ his whole life, he hid how sick he was. I knew he was in great pain, but he never complained. This, from a man who complained about heart burn?

I am not surprised that he was the Doc to some of the Chicago Outfit while they were incarcerated. He had his own moral compass and I take great pride in this.

Thanks so much and please feel free to share any information about my father that you have.

Christine Mary Warren

Doc Yario, a product of the Legendary Taylor Street, was one of a multitude of Taylor Street bred young men who overcame the prophesies of our sociological soothsayers. A Notre Dame graduate, Doc became a heart surgeon of note. Like other Taylor Street bred young men who sought and excelled in the traditional culture of the larger society, Doc retained his strong Taylor Street roots. He is instantly recognized by all who grew up in the near-west side’s Hull House neighborhood, as a Taylor Street icon. Doc Yario, while going to school and later, while practicing his profession, lived on both sides of the aisle, as attested to by his last wish: “I’d like to be well enough to be able to take a drive and play pinochle with the boys again.”