Alfred Yeske

Alfred Yeske, owner of the former Yeske’s Tots and Teens Store in Lambertville and a longtime clothing peddler whose territory reached from Milford to Hightstown, died on Saturday, March 4, 2006 at Lourdes Medical Center, Willingboro, NJ. He was 96.

Born in Philadelphia in 1910, Mr. Yeske was the child of German immigrants who spent his early years in a German enclave in Northeast Philadelphia. His family would realize a dream when they moved from an inner-city row house to a 25-acre farm in the village of Aquetong in Solebury Township, Pa., when he was nine years old. His father, Joseph, worked the fields, growing what locals for decades called the best sweet corn in Bucks County, while his mother Anna Richter Yeske, sold vegetables, cider and home-churned butter at a roadside stand.

From his farm beginning, Mr. Yeske went to work as a knitter in a hosiery mill in Lambertville, where he met his future wife Dorothy Julia Locke, whom he married in 1931.

Unhappy with working conditions at the mill, he was a leader in what turned out to be a bitterly unsuccessful attempt to organize a union. When a year-long labor strike ended, everyone but the would-be organizers went back to work. Forced to switch careers, he became a peddler.

Beginning in 1936 and continuing into the 1970s, Mr. Yeske was a familiar traveler in his well-worn vehicles when selling clothes to farm and rural families on a route that at times spread to both sides of the Delaware River in Hunterdon, Mercer, Burlington, and Bucks counties. During World War II gasoline rationing forced him to stay overnight in rooming houses in Hightstown and Milford to avoid using additional gas to return home. He was popular among his customers and gained a reputation as a storyteller as well as a purveyor of better quality clothing.

In 1944 he and his wife Dorothy opened Yeske’s Tots and Teens at the first of its four North Union Street locations. He continued his route while Mrs. Yeske worked in the store and tended to their family, which numbered seven growing children and a niece.

As a member of a religious family, Mr. Yeske was a lifelong churchgoer, robustly singing in the congregation, teaching Sunday school and serving as a deacon. Those churches included the First Baptist Church of Lambertville and Trenton’s Central Baptist Church. His fervor led him to audit theology classes at Eastern Baptist Seminary.

During those years he had the opportunity to meet and spend time with many prominent members of the clergy, including having lunch with the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. and a long friendship with Christian author/professor Dr. Carl Henry.

As a churchman and business owner, Mr. Yeske was a well-known figure around Lambertville. His peddling route continued, somewhat diminished, until cars and shopping centers became more commonplace and customers were better able to visit his store. A second store in Penndel, Pa., was opened in 1950 and closed in 1953.

The Yeskes’ Lambertville store was hit by a fire in 1976. They closed the store in 1978, sold their Victorian Delaware Avenue home and moved to a retirement community near Wildwood, Fla.

After the death of his wife Dorothy in 1985, Mr. Yeske married Olive Reid Yeske, who died in 1993. He then returned to New Jersey to be nearer to most of his family, and moved into the Baptist Home in 1995.

In his declining years Mr. Yeske continued to sing in the choir at the Baptist Home and corresponded with some of the well-known religious leaders of his time.

Mr. Yeske was preceded in death by his sons Alfred R. Yeske of Lambertville, who died in 1979, and a son Donald who died in infancy.

Surviving are his sons Curtis E. and wife Susan and Charles J. Yeske of Doylestown Township, Pa., and daughters Dorothy Dilts and her husband Roger of Oakton, Va.; Carole Wells of Oakland, Calif.; Ruth Craxton of Philadelphia; and Cheryl and her husband Ronald Pittore of Lambertville. Also surviving is his daughter-in-law Charlotte Yeske of West Amwelll.

Mr. Yeske’s survivors include grandsons Donald and Stephen Yeske, Roger Dilts Jr., Curtis P. Yeske, Benjamin Wells and Andrew Yeske. Surviving granddaughters are Dorothy Dilts, Debi Winsted, Kendra and Amanda Pittore and Kate Yeske. Mr. Yeske also is survived by 11 great-grandchildren and two great-great grandchildren.

Funeral arrangements are by the Holcombe-Fisher Funeral Home, 147 Main Street, Flemington, NJ. Calling hours will be 10 a.m. Saturday until the time of service at 11 a.m. at the First Baptist Church of Lambertville on Bridge Street, Lambertville, NJ. The Revs. David Errickson, Gina Yeske and Raymond Force will officiate. Burial in Prospect Hill Cemetery in Flemington will follow.

Memorial gifts in Mr. Yeske’s name can be made to River View Estates, Baptist Home, 303 Bank St., Riverton, N.J. All donations will become part of a fund whose purposes will be designated by the family.

Please visit www.holcombefisher.com for further information, or to send condolences.