Anna Veronica Berish

Anna Veronica (Berish) Timko

Anna Veronica (Berish) Timko - Born on Anna Biros on March 1, 1897 in Riddlesburg, Broadtop Township, Bedford County, PA. She was the oldest child of Michael Berish, a coal miner, and Anna P. Mudry, a housewife.

Description

Anna was a thin individual who stood about 5 foot 8 inches in height. She had light brown hair, brown eyes and wore eye glasses in her later years..

Early Years

L to R: Elizabeth Helen with her older sister Anna Veronica Berish.

Having 12 younger brothers and sisters, Anna spent much of her youth helping her mother raise the other Berish children.

• Childhood - Having 12 younger brothers and sisters, Anna spend much of her youth helping her mother raise the other Berish children.
• Siblings
  • Michael George Berish
  • John Paul Berish
  • Andrew Michael Berish
  • Mary Louise Berish
  • Elizabeth Helen Berish
  • Peter John Berish
  • Susan Elizabeth Berish
  • Theresa E. Berish
  • Joseph Berish
  • Paul Joseph Berish
  • Margaret Ann Berish
  • Emma Eleanor Berish

Education

Anna's formal education was completed by the eighth grade.

Religion

Anna was baptized into the Catholic faith and was devout member of the Church in later years. She was a member of Sts. Cyril and Methodius Catholic Church in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio during the early years of living in Warren. However, in her final years, she attended Christ Our King Church in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio.

Anna was a very devote Catholic. Her daughter Dorothy remembered being very small and not old enough to sit still in church in the front pews with her siblings. She had to sit with my mother on the 'women's side of the church. One time Dorothy remembered sitting in the pew feeling very tired. As is common with young children, she closed her eyes and started to fall asleep. However, the moment she closed her eyes and leaned against her mother, Anna would give her a poke to the ribs with her elbow that indicated that sleeping in church was not acceptable and not to try that again.

Family Years

How Anna came to meet her future husband Joseph John Timko Sr. can only be a matter for speculation. It is known that the Slovak miners lived in very close-knit communities where everyone knew everyone else. Perhaps they met during a church social or through mutual friends or simply as neighbors. No matter, the county records show they were married on September 14, 1914 in Dixonville, Indiana County, PA.Anna was just seventeen at the time of her marriage. In fact, her father had to file papers with the court to allow his daughter’s marriage. The young couple were married by Reverend Gro. D. Bonsk.

Never the next seventeen years, the young couple would have eleven children: five boys - Joseph John Jr., Stephen Michael, Edward John, Albert James and one unnamed who died at birth, and six girls - Mary Martha, Anna Joan, Susanna, Elizabeth Margaret, Emma Marie and Dorothy Alice. Susanna would only live a few days before passing away.

As the family grew, every Saturday, Anna would spend the morning making bread for the upcoming week. She only baked during the week when it was needed. In addition to bread, Anna would make pies and coffee cake topped with a mixture cinnamon and sugar to satisfy her family’s desire for deserts.  Most Saturdays, the entire kitchen table was filled with her homemade bread and pies. The family would generally eat more than one pie a day, depending on how many kids still lived at home.

Her daughter Dorothy fondly remembers her mother taking freshly baked bread from the oven as they were getting ready for bed. Anna would take one of the loaves, while it was still warm, slice it and butter up big slices for the kids to eat. The baked goods never had a chance of spoiling and by the next week Anna would be baking again.

It was also not unusual for Anna, during the week, to have one of the girls bake a cake. Anna’s favorite was spice cake, and she always asked her daughter Dorothy to make that particular cake with icing. As there were few prepackaged foods during those days, everything was usually made from “scratch.” And by the end of the day, the kitchen was often a mess after a day’s baking. However, everyone then had to lend a hand with chores, even the younger children.

The ten children of Joseph and Anna are as follows;

• Mary Martha Timko
• Anna Joan Timko
• Susanna Timko
• Joseph John Timko Jr.
• Stephen Michael Timko
• Elizabeth Margaret Timko
• Edward John Timko
• Albert James Timko
• Emma Marie Timko
• Dorothy Alice Timko

Residences

During the family's years in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio, Joseph and Anna rented or owned a total of seven houses on the southwest side of the city.

• 1xx Parkman Road [Note: The exact address of the family's first rental house is not known. My paternal Aunt Emma (Timko) Burin said that while driving with her mother Anna, Anna pointed to a small collection of houses next to the railroad tracks on Parkman and said that was the house the family lived in when they first arrived in the city. At the time, it never occurred to Emma to ask exactly which of the house had been the family's first home. However, from city records, the address would have to have been either 160, 170 or 178 Parkman Road, hence the 1xx designation.]
• 985 Hunter Street NW
• 1437 Tod Avenue SW
• 487 Fourth Street
• 481 Oriole Place SW
• 770 Fourth Street
• 1640 Oak Street SW

Working Years

Anna was a homemaker for 40 years. She never worked outside the home.

Personal Life

Anna, or Baba as she was known to her grandchildren, was a no-nonsense type of grandmother who was used to running a large household full of kids. And despite the fact that we were her grand children, it made no difference. Grandson, granddaughter, son, daughter, niece or nephew, she treated us all the same ­– with firmness, with fairness and, despite the lack of a smile, with love. Smiles, it seems, were only given on special occasions and that made them all the more sought after. I suspect that the only one who could see beneath her façade was Joseph and that he was one of the few that could draw out a smile whenever he wanted one.

Death

Anna died from breast cancer which spread to her spine on April 27, 1972 at St. Joseph’s Riverside Hospital in Warren, Trumbull County, Ohio. She was buried along side her husband Joseph on April 29, 1972 at Sts. Peter and Paul Cemetery in Lordstown, Trumbull County, Ohio.‎‎