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“НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ”, ГРУДЕНЬ 2017 WWW. UNWLA .ORG 13 The Ukrainian Heritage Museum at Manor College Reinvented, Restructured, and Reopened by Irena Gramiak Manor College’s President Jonathan Peri with Leonard and Helena Mazur in the Maria Mazur Gallery The ribbon was ceremoniously cut on October 26, 2017, reopening the Ukrainian Heritage Museum at Manor College. The museum (an integral part of the Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center) had bee n closed for six months for renovations, and the re- sult was definitely worth the wait. New walls, new lights, new floors, and so much more. Among other things, this new museum would not have been possible without very generous donations made by Dr. Barbar a Zajac, The Heritage Founda - tion, and also Leonard and Helena Mazur whose donation was made in honor of Leonard’s mother Maria . Maria immigrated to the United States and settled in Philadelphia with her family in 1954. A UNWLA member, she was president of Branch 90 and was also a member of the executive board of the Philadelphia Regional Council. She was ex- tremely talented in the art of writing pysanky and had many amazing opportunities to demonstrate her talent for others. One of her greatest honors was t hat she was invited to Rome by Cardinal J osyf Slipy j . Following their meeting, she assisted in es- tablishing a pysanky section in a museum being built by the cardinal in Rome. Maria Mazur also worked closely with the Sisters of St. Basil the Great as they established the Ukrainian Heritage Studies Center (UHSC) at Manor College (then Manor Junior College) in Fox Chase, Pennsylvania. The first curator of the UHSC was Christine Chomyn Izak who was for many years president of the UNWLA Philadelphia Re- gional C ouncil. Maria taught the Sisters at Fox Chase how to write pysanky and held pysanky clas- ses at Manor. Unfortunately, she passed away in 1977, at the age of 54, only a few months after the UHSC opened. Though her life was short, Maria's work left a lasting impression on the Ukrainian community and will live on in the Maria Mazur Gallery of the museum. During preparations for the October 2017 opening, I had the opportunity to see the newly renovated museum and also got a “behind - the - scenes” impression as I helped clean, assemble and arrange some of the displays. My mother (and fel- low Branch 88 member) Chrystyna Proko povych is the curator of the UHSC, and I decided to lend a hand. One afternoon, as I was standing and crouching inside a display showcase, a st range thought came to mind. It might have been the glass cleaner I was spraying in such a tight space, but I started to feel as if I were part of the display. Born and raised in America, I consider myself to be Ukrainian, a phenomenon which seems to be gro wing rarer with each generation of immigrant families. I know that it must have been hard to raise Ukrainian children outside of Ukraine. The Ukrainian language and culture are not part of the average American lifestyle, so my parents (like countless other s) had to work extra hard every day and make many sacrifices to teach me the language and culture. They took me to Ukrainian dance clas- ses and Plast or CYM meetings and events (yes, I was a member of both organizations, and that was just fine). They gave u p every Saturday morning to take me to Ukrainian school. My mom didn't just drop me off at the door; she also taught there. My parents did all of that so that I would be proud of my heritage and love my culture. Well, it worked because I spent several nig hts upside - down and backwards and sideways inside those Ukrainian Heritage Museum show- cases, not just to help my mom, but to make the museum look amazing so that visitors could see, learn and enjoy the culture and heritage that I love so much and am so pro ud to call my own. In the process, I was reminded that the parents and grandparents and even great grandparents of the people I grew up with did what my own parents
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