It was blazing hot when the folk community laid Jeanette Yanks to rest next to her late husband Howie, another Folksong Society pillar. Friends lingered, reminiscing and quipping, observing that the always-soignée Yanks would’ve urged a move to somewhere with AC, pronto. But there was something in the green, wooded area that suggested her decades of commitment to the Philly Folk Festival as chair of the tickets committee. Beyond that event, Yanks had the perpetual work of coordinating the Folksong Society’s Odyssey Program. She created this outreach program, persuading the Society to allot her the funds to book musicians into schools. She was not shy in approaching well-known artists when they were coming to the area, pitching a low-bucks daytime gig for the good of the community. She had all the contacts. When Latino artists were available, Yanks had Spanish teachers eager to host them. Teresa Pyott, former Society board member, recalls Yanks’ deep-seated kindness and friendliness: “My favorite memory is the evening we were at an after-concert gathering — she and I felt sorry for this performer sitting alone on the floor with his guitar, so we sat down beside him to keep him company. Although we didn’t know him at the time, it was John Denver.”
