Chaldean Pioneers: Jerry Yono
Jerry enjoying the fruits of his labor.
By Cal Abbo
Jerry Yono’s story begins in the famed town of Telkeppe, Iraq, on June 7, 1940. Most were farmers back then, according to Jerry, and his father was no different. His most nascent memory is walking to and from the well to fetch water.
His mother, Hayat Yono, is from Mosul, and her family mostly spoke Arabic. Jerry’s father Aziz brought her to live in Telkeppe. He had an uncle who had lived in the United States for years.
“I remember my house,” Jerry recalled, “and the dirt street in front of us. We had a nice home. But it was not an easy life. Not easy at all … Everybody always talked about going to America. A beautiful country. A new life.”
At 9 years old, his life changed forever when his family decided to leave the village.
First Steps
According to Jerry, young Iraqi boys were prone to kidnapping, especially when traveling through the Middle East. “In those days, they used to put earrings on the children so they couldn’t be kidnapped,” he said, remembering how they changed his appearance to make his travels safer. The journey was a long one, but his family eventually made it to Detroit, uniting with his uncle and the small-but-growing Chaldean community.
“There must’ve been a foot of snow when I arrived,” Jerry said. “I couldn’t believe my eyes.”
Opportunity, in the Oxford dictionary, means “a set of circumstances that makes it possible to do something.” The land of opportunity does not guarantee comfort nor success. It must be earned. For Jerry and his family, that set of circumstances meant living in his uncle’s attic for half a year when they arrived.
Aziz went to work as a baker. He worked on a factory line because he couldn’t speak English and it was difficult to learn at his age. “My dad was a wonderful man,” Jerry remarked. “He took care of us as best he could. He never complained if he had to work all day.”
After six months, his family found their own place to live. Once he and his family settled, Jerry had to go to school and begin learning English. This was difficult, but with an immigrant’s mindset, he was committed to learning the native language in his new homeland. Still a young child, his mind was ripe for this activity and he quickly assimilated to life in the “Middle West.”
In addition to studying, Jerry had to help his parents earn money to live. While his father worked in the factory, he found a job as a stockboy at another Chaldean family’s convenience store. He was just 9 years old. This foundational experience would pave the way for his business success later.
Balancing school, work, and adapting to a new culture all at once is possible, but thriving is not as easy. Nevertheless, that’s what Jerry did. As a teenager in high school, he began to neglect his studies so he could work harder and earn more money for his family.
Jerry Yono speaks at the Food Dealers Trade Dinner at Cobo Hall.
The First Store
“When I was 15, there was a store available on the east side, St. Antoine and Leland,” Jerry said. “I bought my first store, called The Black Bottom.”
From then on, he employed his father Aziz to work at his store. He was likely one of the first Chaldeans to do so. “After a few years, I really helped lead the family. I was running everything,” Jerry said.
When he was still in high school, Jerry would go and open the store in the morning, then go to school during the day. After school, he would go back to the store and, around 6 p.m. when business slowed down, close it. Finally, he went to another Chaldean’s store and worked for the rest of the night, finishing around 10 p.m.
Jerry’s hard work and determination to support his family left him in peril of failing out of Catholic school. His saving grace, however, came from the nuns who counseled him and helped him pass. They came up with a plan to keep Jerry on track to graduate with a GED while also allowing him the time to develop his business and make enough money for his family. He attributes his success to these women, without whom he would not have a high school degree.
Jerry continued down the path of hard work and success, opening, building up, and selling several stores while cementing himself as part of the business community in Detroit. In his early 20s, he made friends in the city with local politicians, community members, and many Chaldeans alike. He filled the role of community liaison between the Black community and the growing Chaldean population. In many instances, he was called upon to resolve disputes and give his perspective on issues between the two communities.
Politics and Power
Thus began his political career. In 1964, in his early 20s, Jerry made his first and only attempt to run for office. “Everyone knows Yono,” his slogan read. “Experienced – Vigor – Sober Judgement.”
According to him, he became the youngest person in the state of Michigan to ever run for a seat in its legislative house and was certainly the first Chaldean to ever run for state office in the U.S., inspiring countless other Chaldeans to get involved in politics since then.
His loss in the election, however, did not end Jerry’s political career, but instead spurred it. Rather than serving the public as an elected official, he dedicated his efforts to serving the growing Chaldean business community and its customer base, especially those dealing in grocery and corner stores. He always maintained one foot in the political sphere and knew how fruitful it would be to develop those relationships.
Jerry Yono was the first Chaldean to run for office in the state legislature.
“I worked with Dennis Archer on a campaign for a man named Ed Bell in the early 1960s,” Jerry said. “Later on, of course, Archer ran for mayor and won. We were pretty close.” Based on relationships like that, Jerry started getting invited to lots of events and meetings in Detroit and Lansing. He was even invited to the governor’s mansion a few times. Despite this, he never ran for office again, and focused on the community on the ground.
“In the city itself, a lot of the stores were having problems with the Black community, with the local customers,” he said. “I was involved quite a bit with the police department. Everyone had my pager number back in the day. They would call on me to go to a specific location and take care of an issue. Sometimes it was theft or threats. We did have a lot of store owners killed in those days.”
Much of the community strife culminated in the Detroit riots of 1967. Jerry’s store, called Imperial Market, was right in the middle of the action – as Jerry himself stood outside and talked with the folks who were protesting and marching. His store was featured in the August 4, 1967, issue of Life Magazine, in which you can see a large sign reading, “Soul Brother,” and two of Jerry’s African American friends, armed and ready to defend his store. They protected his store because they saw Jerry as such a crucial part of the community.
In contrast, the drug store across the street, owned by a Jewish family, was looted in its entirety. “I watched them carry out a large safe, put it into the back of a Cadillac, and drive away,” Jerry said. “Other people went in and took everything they could carry before they burned down the store.”
Over the years, Jerry became increasingly involved in the Associated Food Dealers, which later became known as the Associated Food and Petroleum Dealers. This association helped organize independent retailers, like the small shops owned by Chaldeans, to compete with large organizations. It developed relationships with suppliers and politicians that gave its members an advantage in the market.
When Jerry opened his first store, he cultivated these relationships for himself. But power comes in numbers, and few understand how to leverage your community better than Chaldeans. He brought those relationships to AFPD and used them to establish Chaldean businesses even further.
He became seriously involved in the organization in the ‘60s and ‘70s and served on the board for much of that time. Twice he was elected President of AFPD and grew the organization substantially while also strengthening its political relationships during his tenure.
His work as President was so appreciated that his colleagues wanted him to run for a third term, which was unprecedented at the time. Jerry knew how important he was to the organization, and many on the board begged him to stay on, so he ran once again, and won. In the style of George Washington, he declined to serve the third term, deferring instead to the runner-up.
Jerry would continue his work with AFPD for decades. After he finally retired, he was presented with a surprise banquet by the organization and accepted a lifetime service award and a mouthful of praise from then-Governor Jennifer Granholm.
Southfield Funeral Home
Long before he retired from his position at AFPD, Jerry opened and sold seven stores in metro Detroit, all of which are still operating successfully today.
Throughout his life, Jerry was heavily involved in the Church, both personally and financially. As a result, he was plugged into the nuanced issues that Chaldeans faced as they established themselves as a large part of the metro Detroit community. Chaldean immigration to the Detroit area was accelerating, and one question still loomed large as the first generation began to age and pass away: How would we bury our dead, under our own circumstances?
To some, it might seem out of the ordinary to go from a store owner and politician to a funeral home operator; however, this versatility is the sign of a true community leader. Jerry saw the needs of his people, gleaning their desire for a trusted funeral service they could trust to give a fair price. Price gouging, which refers to a business that exploits its customers with exaggerated prices, is a common practice against immigrant communities that speak English as a second language.
“I consulted with Bishop George Garmo and the elders of the community, and they thought it was a great idea,” he said. “I opened the funeral home on February 9, 1981,” Jerry said. He remembers the day of his first funeral because he was close with the family whose father had died.
“They wanted a visitation the next day,” he remembered. “The furniture wasn’t in the building yet, but I called the warehouse and had them deliver it the next morning. From then on, all my people came to me.”
Thus, Jerry’s second career, and that which he is most known for, was born. For decades, he dutifully served the Chaldean community and their deceased. His reputation as a leader and pioneer became yet more established as he filled a role that was vacant for decades. Southfield Funeral Home has buried thousands of Chaldeans over the years, and it remains a staple to this day.
It was not easy, according to Jerry. He would answer calls in the middle of the night and go to peoples’ homes to pick up their loved ones. “I did it because I cared. I wanted to talk to people and tell them not to worry. Everything will be okay. We’ll take care of you,” he said. “I don’t know anyone who would have done this if I hadn’t.”
Jerry described many sleepless nights, and long days of going between the funeral home and the AFPD. Eventually, he had to resign from the AFPD as the community and its need for funeral services grew ever larger.
“It was a bit scary because I didn’t even go to funeral homes before. I was afraid to see dead people,” Jerry said. “There were times when I took my mother to funerals, and I would stay in the car. It’s been 40 years, and it’s not been easy, seeing my mother, my father, my sisters, and my brother in the funeral home. A lot of friends’ relatives. But I did it and I did it well.”
Only in the last few years did Jerry begin to pass the funeral home into new hands. Now, Southfield Funeral Home is run by his son, Anthony Yono, and Nibras Hanna.
Legacy
“I’ve not really thought about if I had stayed in Iraq,” he said. “I probably shouldn’t say this, but I don’t think I would be alive today.”
Jerry constantly professes his love for his community and the Chaldean people in Detroit. “I love to be with my community. Serving it has been my life,” he said.
Through all his hard work and business success, Jerry is still as frugal as he was during his childhood and teenage years when his family was struggling. That’s something that stays with you. “The last car I had, I used it for 17 years,” he said, talking about his GMC Yukon built in the early 2000s. “I don’t mind spending money on my kids and grandkids. They’re my life.”
Jerry is married to his wife, Firyal Yono, upon whom he heaps praise whenever he has the chance. “Firyal is a wonderful, wonderful woman. She is a gift from God,” he said. “She’s a great wife, a great mother and grandmother. She’s a wonderful cook. I don’t think there’s another woman that could take her place.” His favorite food is dolma, which she makes frequently.
His advice for those who want to follow in his footsteps is this: “If you can help someone, do it,” he said. “Do the right thing. You should know, in your mind, what the right thing is. It’s easy to know what’s right. Don’t do the wrong thing and don’t hurt anyone.”