MARIA CHUCHMAN

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MARIA CHUCHMAN (nee Czubatyj) Maria passed away peacefully, on Saturday, June 10, 2006 at Holy Family Nursing Home. She was predeceased by her husband Iwan; her sisters, Nadia, Olha and Alexandra; her brothers-in-law, Iwan Yurijchuk and Alexander Pawluk; her brothers, Dmytro, Danylo, Volodymyr and Yuryj; and her sisters-in-law, Eugenia, Anna, Irena and Rostyslava. She is mourned by her son George (Irene), daughter Martha (Lorne Anderson), son Andrew (Katrusia), daughter Roma (Marvin Paetsch); and by her grandchildren, Olesia (Jason Shewchuk), Andriana (Adam Hildebrandt), Iyvan, Danylo, Alexandra, Tamara and Talia; as well as numerous nieces and nephews and their families in Canada, United States, Australia and Ukraine. Maria was born on January 18, 1919, in the village of Dytkiwcie, adjacent to the town of Brody, 100 kilometres east of Lviv, in western Ukraine. She was the youngest child in the large family of Rev. Alexander Czubatyj and his wife Maria Mihulowicz. Rev. Alexander was pastor of the Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church in Dytkiwcie. Maria completed secondary school in the gymnasium in Brody. The death of her father in 1938 was very soon followed by the traumatic events of the Second World War, two years of Soviet Russian occupation and almost three years of German occupation. She survived the War as a volunteer hospital worker in Brody and later as a medical student in Lviv. There, she met Iwan, a student of veterinary medicine and former theology student, and they were married in a quiet ceremony on July 1, 1944, in St. Yuryj Cathedral in Lviv, as the eastern front of the War approached the western outskirts. Reluctantly, they never completed their studies and became part of the thousands of war-time refugees unwilling to remain under a second occupation by Stalin's armies. Briefly, they were in Prague and at the end of the War they found themselves among the displaced persons in southern Germany, where their first son was born. They were excited and grateful to be sponsored for immigration to Canada in 1949. Maria, Iwan and their infant son, were settled in the gold mining town of Bissett and with savings from working in the mine, they were soon able to acquire a laundry business, working hard long hours, and then moving to Winnipeg in 1952. Maria worked in a number of jobs over the years and as Martha, Andrew and Roma were born, she devoted herself to caring for and raising her growing family, while still working part-time. After the passing of her loving husband Iwan, in 1978, she worked hard to provide a stable home-setting for the university studies of her children and found great joy and fulfilment in helping with the care of her grandchildren, in the 1980s and early 1990s. Since the fall of 2000, she was a resident of Holy Family Nursing Home. The family thanks the staff of Holy Family for their caring and kindness. Panachyda will be sung 7:00 p.m., Wednesday, June 14, at Korban Funeral Chapel, 907 Main St. and Divine Liturgy will be celebrated 10:00 a.m., Thursday, June 15, at Sts. Vladimir and Olga Cathedral, 115 McGregor St. with Rt. Rev. Msgr. Mitrat M. Buyachok officiating. Interment will follow in All Saints Cemetery. Flowers are gratefully declined. Donations in Maria's memory may be made to the Taras Shevchenko Foundation, Plast' Ukrainian Youth Association, or the Alzheimer's Society of Manitoba. KORBAN FUNERAL CHAPEL 956-2193

As published in Winnipeg Free Press on Jun 14, 2006