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НАШЕ ЖИТТЯ • Січень-Лютий 2025 7 Soyuz Ukrainok: It’s in the Blood Patricia Zalisko , Press Secretary, Branch 56, North Port, FL Most of you know me as the press secretary for a south - west Florida branch. I love bragging about what my skillful branch “sisters” do, hoping that you’re inspired to do the same. But this time, I've been asked to tell you my own story, something that I usually don't do. My Soyuz Ukrainok story starts about 100 years ago. All my grandparents were among the first wave of Ukrain - ian immigrants to the United States. They settled in this country about 120 years ago, before the U.S. even had im - migration laws or airplanes, and became American citizens. One of them, my maternal grandmother, Michalena Sypa, came here — alone — on a ship at the age of 14, around 1906, from a village outside Peremyshl, then in Ukraine. She got a job as a housekeeper in Bayonne, NJ, and then moved to the Big Apple, working as a seamstress. When she was 16 years old, she was introduced to my maternal grandfather, Thomas Parchin, who like Michalena had come to the U.S. a few years earlier. He hailed from a village near Ternopil and, abandon - ing an academic life in western Ukraine and Austria, came to a land promising opportunity. Thomas began a window washing business in Manhattan and sustained an injury in a fall. Micha - lena accompanied a mutual acquaintance to the hospital to visit him while he was recovering. She promptly decided to marry him. They did just that and had four children. Two died (one in a global pandemic), and two survived. One of those survivors was my mother, Sophia Parchin. Shortly after its formation, my grandmother joined a fledgling Branch 1 of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America. She remained a member of the branch for many years. After my grandfather's death, while I was still an infant, my parents moved into my grandmother's home to help out. At home, we practiced all things Ukrainian: speaking Ukrainian, creating the art forms unique to our culture, cooking tradi - tional Ukrainian dishes, going to Ukrainian school, joining Plast, and studying ballet and traditional Ukrainian dance with a former prima ballerina, Nina Sulima, in Manhattan. My father, Stephen Kotyk, played a prominent role in sup - porting the women in his life in all these activities. His daugh - ters were encouraged to immerse themselves in NYC’s visual and performing arts, and never ever forget their Ukrainian roots. Academic achievement was also expected: it was as - sumed that their girls would earn post-graduate degrees. My parents worked tirelessly to make that happen. And while they worked, my Babtsia ensured that we studied, played, and helped with household chores, too. Pat’s grandparents, Michalena and Thomas Parchin. Michalena came to the U.S. by herself at the age of 14. Pat’s newlywed parents, Sophia and Stephen Kotyk, in New York City.
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