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IN M E M O R Y O F O L E N K A On May 1, 1982 — a beautiful, sunny spring day — the family, friends, and members of the Ukrainian com munity joined together in mournfully sharing the last earthly journey of the late Olenka Savyckyj to her final resting place in St. Andrew’s Cemetery in Bound Brook, NJ. Olenka had died on April 26 at the age of 36, in the aftermath of a serious skiing accident in Utah ten weeks earlier. The unbelievable had happened. A young woman — full of energy, and love of life, a devoted wife and mother, a multitalented individual, warm and affec tionate friend of all who knew her — had been taken from this world in the full blossom of her life, like a flower that is plucked in spring... Perhaps no community organization felt the loss of Olenka more keenly then UNWLA, which had recently placed great hopes on Olenka as a future leader in the Ukrainian women’s movement. Olenka, who spoke at UNWLA’s convention in Philadelphia in May 1981, had been a member of UNWLA for many years, but since the autumn of 1981 had taken on the responsible and time- consuming role of Chairwoman of the Organizing Com mittee of the Ukrainian Women’s Conference, slated for October 2-3, 1982 at Soyuzivka. This ad hoc committee is composed of members and non-members of UNWLA, but the Conference was initiated and is sponsored by UNWLA. Olenka took on the responsibility of chairing the Conference with the utmost seriousness — as was always her style in the projects she undertook — because she appreciated the importance to the com munity and to the individual, of a strong network of Ukrainian women, sharing their knowledge and learning from each other. And, most importantly, she took on the responsibility of chairwoman at a most difficult time — when the Conference was just the germ of an idea, when it’s success was by no means guaranteed. She ac cepted an idea and helped it become a reality, with intelligence, diplomacy and hard work. Olenka was born in Regensburg, West Germany on August 16, 1945 to Maria (nee Powalaczek) and Dr. Wolodymyr Wirszczuk. She received her primary and secondary education in Chicago, where her family had settled after World War II. There she also graduated from Chicago’s Ukrainian Saturday School. In addition to excelling in all her studies, Olenka also received an education in music, which was a Powalaczek family tradition. Subsequently, she attended the University of Illinois and Upsala College in New Jersey (when her family moved to Maplewood) where she received a B.A. in English literature. Throughout her college years, Olenka was active in Ukrainian student activities and in Plast. Shortly after graduating from college, she married Dr. Orest Leskiw. Eventually, the couple, with their children Christine and Danylo, settled in Elgin, Illinois where Olenka joined a nearby UNWLA branch. After the death of her husband, Olenka moved to Titusville, NJ where she began graduate courses toward a Masters of Business Administration degree, which she received from Rider College in 1981. Olenka was a member of UNWLA Branch 19 in Trenton and was em ployed for a time with the Philadelphia Civil Service Commission. In August 1979, Olenka married Dr. Jurij Savyckyj and settled into a happy family life in Riverside, Conn. She became very active in Ukrainian community life. Olenka became an active member of the Ukrainian Institute of America and was president of the recently disbanded Friends of the UIA, a support group founded as a result of the Institute’s tax difficulties. She spent several hundred hours researching the Institute files and organizing basic information used by the UlA’s lawyers in appealing its tax-exemption case. Olenka was sensitive to the long-term needs of the Ukrainian community and her great hope, which she did not live to see realized, was the merging of the UIA with the Ukrainian Museum — a goal she strove for honestly and courageously during her association with UIA. Olenka was a member of the Ukrainian Museum which she felt would play a crucial role in preserving Ukrainian traditions for current and future generations. Hence, her concern for its further growth and success. Offering eulogies at the funeral services, which were attended by several hundred people, were: Ivanna Rozankowsky, president of UNWLA; Nadia Shmigel, member of the Ukrainian Women’s Conference Or ganizing Committee; Slava Lapka, president of UNWLA Branch 11 in Trenton, NJ; Olenka’s husband, Jurij; Fr. Mykhailo Peretyatko of St. John the Baptist Church in Newark, NJ; Dr. Roman Baranowsky of the Association of Ukrainian Veterinarians, of which Olenka’s father is a member; Andrij Pashchuk and Maria Honcharenko, Board members of the Ukrainian Institute of America; Mykhailo Dobosh of Lytwyn and Lytwyn; and relatives Maria Rudakewych, Xenia Antypiw and Handzia Sawyckyj. Of all the kind words spoken about Olenka that day, those which perhaps best sum up the essence of her personality were spoken in her husband’s touching eulogy: “O le nk o, with y o u r ra re c o m b in a tio n o f gen tle ne ss , idealism , g en ero s ity , thou gh tfu ln ess, a n d o p tim ism y o u c re a te d a s p e c ia l jo y fu l m a g ic all arou rtd you. But, even m o re im p o rta n tly , y o u c re a te d th a t m a g ic w ithin the h earts o f every pe rs o n w hose life y o u touched. T hat is w h y even those p e o p le w ho k n e w y o u o n ly b rie fly are w e e p ing h ere to d a y .” 22 НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ, ЧЕРВЕНЬ 1982 Видання C оюзу Українок A мерики - перевидано в електронному форматі в 2012 році . A рхів C У A - Ню Йорк , Н . Й . C Ш A.
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