Lubow Terlecky Burrows

Lubow Alexandra Terlecky Burrows (aka Luba Terletska), died peacefully in her home on June 27th, surrounded by family members. She lived as full, as strong, as brave, and as loving a life as anyone ever has. She got university degrees and worked career jobs long before it was the norm for women to do so, and she was strong-willed, funny, devoted, and opinionated up until the very end of her days.

Luba was born on Nov. 21, 1929 in Lviv, Ukraina to a prominent local family. Her uncle Mikhailo ran a large pharmacy that is now a museum and tourist attraction. Her father Roman was an investor and property owner, and her mother Sofia Zhezhelevska Terletska was a homemaker. The family's peace and prosperity came to an end with the arrival of World War II. They first fled to Krakow, Poland, before returning to Lviv. In July of 1944, with the Red Army closing in and the family on their enemies list, her father stubbornly refused to budge. So 14 year-old Luba decided to save her family. She went down to the docks and made a deal with a barge captain to transport the family to the Danube River, and eventually Vienna. She witnessed some terrible things during wartime which she did not enjoy discussing, and for the rest of her life she despised violence and abusive leaders.

At the end of the war, the Terleckys found themselves living in one room in a UN refugee camp in the German Alps. Luba remembered this as a wonderful time in her life, with lots of socializing and running around in the mountains. In 1951, the family made the decision to emigrate and join some friends of theirs in Connecticut. Luba withdrew from her German university courses (she could speak German, along with Ukrainian, English, Polish, and Italian) and moved to Glastonbury. At a mixer at the University of Connecticut, she met a young music major named David Lamont Burrows, whom she eventually married. Luba was accepted to medical school in Switzerland, but declined to attend because it would have meant a lengthy separation from her husband, something that was rarely done in those days. It was a choice that she later regretted, for she would have been a first-rate physician.

Luba and David lived in Storrs, Boston (where Luba worked at Mass General), New Haven, and eventually New Rochelle, New York. The couple brought 3 children into the world: Tim, Nina, and Greg, and Luba would later recall the years in New Haven, with her young family and Yale friends, as her happiest. She worked as a biology researcher and housing administrator at SUNY Purchase before moving to Barnard College in 1981, where she worked until her retirement at age 72, managing the biology lab and teaching lab courses. Luba and David's marriage, sad to say, came to an end in 1979.

In the last chapter of her life, Luba moved to Chestertown, Maryland to be near her daughter and her family. Luba was politically liberal and outspoken about it. Like almost everyone from the Halichina, she was a strong supporter of Ukrainian independence. She played and listened to classical music, read a lot, watched news programs on television. and played a key role in the raising of her beloved grandson. She remained in close contact with many good friends and relatives and, up until the end, her phone rang constantly and people were always coming by for delicious meals and stimulating conversations. Luba was always in motion, she was a force of nature, but a highly intelligent one. She was our family doctor, head chef, disciplinarian, personal advisor, decorator, gardener, and beloved mother, grandmother, and mother-in-law.

Luba was predeceased by her parents and her sister, Lida Kryzanowsky. She is survived by her son Timothy G. Burrows (and wife Wendy), daughter Nina B. Arnold (and husband Dane), son Gregory Burrows (and wife Inge), and her grandson, John B. Arnold. She is survived by many more relatives and dear friends, too numerous to list, but among them are her nephews Mark and Adrian Kryzanowsky, cousins Tamara Tershakovec and Mariana Gruber, her dear friend since school days Marika Hawryliak, Larissa and the rest of the Oryshkevych family, the Ball family of Ohio and elsewhere, and Lesya Kmetek and her husband Bob Wynn.

Our gratitude to her is immeasurable, and she will live in our hearts forever. Vichnaya pamyat. Donations in her memory may be made to razomforukraine.org.