Robert F. Yonash

In early 1997, following nearly forty years as a Sonoma County entrepreneur, Bob moved to the Fircrest Convalescent Hospital in Sebastopol, California where he died on April 19, 1997 at age 78.

Yonash shipped one of the IMCO tractors to his parents in Iowa Hill, California where it served a productive life on the Kings Hill Ranch before being moved, this time to Sonoma County. [1]. After Bob's death in 1997, Bob's son donated it to a tractor enthusiast to have during his lifetime with the understanding that it would be returned to Bob's son when the man died. However, the man became ill before he could do the work and he passed the tractor on to Mark Strusz, who completed the restoration ~1999. In 2011, Strusz returned the tractor to its Bob's son in exchange for being reimbursed for the cost of the work.

At North American, Yonash first met Bob McCulloch, who was to remain instrumental in his career until he “retired” from working for others. Yonash and McCulloch remained friends until McCulloch's death in 1995.

Empire West, Inc., a plastics vacuum-forming business, was the final company with which Yonash was involved. Originally located in the old Nulaid properly, it moved to Graton, California in the early 1980s. It was his son's business, but until just before his death Yonash stayed closely involved, contributing both his experience of business operation and his skills and knowledge as an Industrial Designer to make the molds required for the various products. Empire West, Inc. continues to thrive. Its latest product is Ceilume Ceiling Tiles.

Yonash married three times. His first wife was Gwendolyn Tull, mother of his daughter Robin. She was the daughter of Frank Tull of Kansas and Zella Cox of Illinois. The marriage ended in divorce after six years. He then married Virginia Doerr, the socialite daughter of R. Edward Blaney Doerr, president of the Murray Gin Company in Dallas, and Louise Nelms. They had a son Richard. This marriage lasted until his wife's death in 1975. His final marriage, to Jan Robbins, endured until his death.

About the same time, Yonash became involved with using a portable sawmill that could be “taken to the tree.” This allowed redwood trees that had been left as slash from logging to be cut into usable lumber. But the next question was, what to use it for? This led to the birth of Industrial Woodcraft in 1970, located in the old Nulaid property. The founding of Industrial Woodcraft was based on a business principle that Yonash had formulated which said “the smaller the piece the higher the price.” Industrial Woodcraft took “junk” wood and re-sawed it into items such as grape stakes, planter boxes, etc., as well as all manner of custom cut wood for various enterprises—whatever there was a market for.

In 1968, Yonash purchased the Nulaid property in Petaluma, California and sold the pallet factory. The Nulaid facility formerly belonged to the California Egg Producers Association. The facility had many separate sections, each used for a different part of the egg producing process. Additions of various construction styles were built at different times. This made the whole facility rather impractical for use by a plant needing open space. Rather than try to find one tenant who could use the entire facility, Yonash decided to make each section into an independent unit fitted with the proper amenities such as wash rooms, etc., thus having many smaller units to rent separately. The return from this scheme paid the properly off every three years.

In 1967, Yonash leased the old Santa Rosa airport property and started building pallets from re-sawn lumber. This was during the Vietnam War, and there was an ongoing demand for pallets as they were never shipped back but were taken apart in ‘Nam and used as local building materials. Pallets were also sold for domestic use in the US.

In 1959 Yonash began exploring opportunities in Sonoma County, California.

In 1957, after a one-year ownership of the Forest House Hotel in Foresthill, California, Yonash busied himself and the rest of the family with planting a walnut orchard while he was looking for other prospects.

In 1955, with the assistance of Carl Adamson, who owned the Iowa Hill Store at the time, and other members of the community, Yonash installed a dial telephone line from Iowa Hill to Colfax, California with a link to Kings Hill and other locations near Iowa Hill. The line was in operation for over ten years, but after the Kings Hill property was sold in the mid-1960s. The line eventually became inoperational because there was no one to keep it in repair since both Yonash and Adamson moved away.

In 1954, Yonash met his long-time goal of “retirement” at age 35 and quit working for other people. For the rest of his life, he was a self-employed entrepreneur.

In August, 1954, Yonash moved his family to the Iowa Hill, California property in the Sierra Nevada (U.S.) foothills which he and his parents had purchased in 1949, near the site of the future Auburn Dam. His parents had previously moved there with his daughter to serve as custodians. Part of this property was one of the last private purchases of land from the Southern Pacific Company.

In mid-1951, IMCO expanded to the Brady, Texas area, starting up Brady Aviation at Curtis Field. Yonash was the driving force in the successful post-war conversion of the former aircraft plant in Brady. Brady Aviation, named for the town in which it resided, was a large part of the local industrial base. When the company choose to expand its plant with a $1.5 million addition, front-page headlines were in order for the Brady Herald.

By the early 1950s, IMCO bought the Southern Aircraft 100,000-square-foot (9,300 m) manufacturing plant located on Amundsen Road in Garland, Texas. Ray Shape, who had been a V.P. at Southern, moved to IMCO as Executive Vice President. Shape invited a friend of his, Ed Hancock, to interview for a position with IMCO, and Hancock was hired to be V.P of Production. The Shapes, Hancocks, and Yonashes became close friends, and the friendship continued even after Yonash moved back to California.

The Intercontinental Manufacturing Company (IMCO) came into being in April 1948, in space subleased from TEMCO in the former North American plant near Dallas, with Harold J. Silver as President and Yonash as vice president with the intent of filling the order from Argentina for several thousand tractors due the end of the year. Because of the short delivery time, the tractor was built mostly from existing parts such as motors from the Continental Motors Company and axles built by the Timken Company. Yonash's old company, TEMCO, was contracted to do the assembly.

Yonash was vice president, production with IMCO from April 1948 to 1954. This was his last formal job before achieving his goal of "retirement" at 35.

Yonash was the Vice President for Production at R.P.M. from December 1947 to March 1948. He left to be a consultant on his own, listing himself with the Republic National Bank of Dallas, among others. This led directly to him becoming involved in the startup of the Intercontinental Manufacturing Company (IMCO).

Yonash was a member of the start-up management team for Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Company (TEMCO) in Dallas, Texas, which was created as part of an effort to ease the transition from wartime production. He was Chief Production Engineer from January 16, 1946 to November 30, 1947. On June 17, 1946, Yonash was appointed the head of the new Department 25, known as “General Products.” This department produced an automated popcorn machine, Venetian blind clips, and other consumer-oriented products. Later on, it also assembled the tractors for the Intercontinental Manufacturing Company (IMCO).

Yonash was a Department Manager for the Menasco Manufacturing Company in Burbank, California from August 23, 1945 to January 25, 1946.

At North American Aviation, Yonash worked in the Dallas, Texas plant on the tooling for the P-51 Mustang wings. The challenge here was that the wings attached to the fuselage of the plane at an angle. Prior to Yonash's involvement the manufacturing and assembly process was very time consuming. With his tooling design, productivity improved significantly. Yonash worked for North American from January 1944 to July 1945.

Yonash was the Chief Tool Engineer, in charge of the Tooling Department, in the Connersville, Indiana plant of the Aircraft Division of American Central Manufacturing Corporation (AMC) from May 1, 1941 to January 31, 1944. AMC was one of many general manufacturing companies which switched their focus to subcontracting the production of materiel during World War II. He worked on the tooling for one of the wing sections of the B-24 Liberator Bomber. His department's efforts rated an article in the company newsletter. Photos and drawing of some of the tooling his department produced still survive.

In 1939 Yonash returned to Vultee in Downey, now known as Vultee Aircraft, Inc. He started as a Sheet Metal – Production Worker on a Drill Press, then moved up to Inspector on December 4, 1939. On June 17, 1940 he became the Tool Design Night Liaison, and then the Tool Design Liaison on July 8, 1940.

Yonash was a drop hammer operator at Vultee Airplane Development Corporation in Downey, California from May 26, 1936 to September 25, 1936. This was his first job outside of the family. In May 1936, he was 17 and the Great Depression was still going on.

When he was laid off on September 25, 1936, Yonash was rated “very good” on ability, conduct, and production. He was “laid off because of lack of work,” but was marked “we would re-employ.”

From October 26, 1936 to March 3, 1939, Yonash worked for Lockheed at its Burbank, California plant between his two stints for Vultee. Initially, he was a Junior Drop Hammer Operator, and was promoted to Senior Drop Hammer Operator on January 22, 1937. When he left, he was rated “very good” on ability and production, but only “good” on conduct.

In 1927, the Yonash family moved to the Los Angeles, California area where they managed an apartment house for several years before settling on a farm in Bellflower, California.

Robert F. Yonash (February 7, 1919 – April 19, 1997) was an American engineer in the early days of the aircraft industry. He was a member of the start-up management team for the Texas Engineering & Manufacturing Company (TEMCO), which eventually became the "T" in the conglomerate Ling-Temco-Vought (LTV). He was the co-founder, with Harold Silver, of the Intercontinental Manufacturing Company (IMCO), which is currently owned by General Dynamics.

Bob Yonash was the firstborn child and only son of Frank Yonash and Esther Mary Jacobsen. At the time of his birth on February 7, 1919, his parents resided on a homestead near Plevna, Montana. His mother went to her mother's home in Wadena, Minnesota for his birth.

Yonash's father immigrated from Bohemia, which was then a part of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, arriving at Ellis Island on September 5, 1908. His mother descended from immigrants of Denmark and Luxembourg, who settled in Iowa and later moved to Wadena.