Chrystyna Tamara Ferencevych

Chrystyna Tamara Wolycka was born in Rohatyn, Ukraine on March 1, 1934, to Vasyl and Lydia (neé Bachynska) Wolycki. She grew up in the town of Zolochiv under the watchful eye of her beloved grandmother Neonilia Bachynska. She was a well-traveled child, visiting her large, extended family throughout Western Ukraine and accompanying her mother on trips to the big city, Lviv, for shopping and the occasional card game.
Chrystyna's idyllic childhood was disrupted by the 1939 outbreak of World War II, and five years later her family, which now included baby sister Marta, fled their homeland ahead of the Soviet Army's advance. Moving ever westward, the family travelled through Slovakia to Braunschweig, British-occupied northern Germany, where little brother Nestor rounded out the family unit. Emigration to Canada followed in 1948 where her "official" birthday became August 1 thanks to an immigration officer in need of glasses. After traveling by cart, truck and boat from Braunschweig to London, Chrystyna got to visit the London Zoo before boarding her first airplane for a multi-stage journey to Winnipeg, Manitoba.
In Winnipeg, Chrystyna learned English, joined Plast, Ukrainian Scouting Organization, went to work as a bank teller, and studied in the evenings to complete high school. In 1954, she embarked on yet another sojourn, taking a job in Toronto and saving funds to help move her parents and siblings across the country. There, she continued her scouting work, leading scout troops and organizing summer hiking camps and leadership seminars. During these years she earned a reputation as a tough, but fair, leader with a sense of humor. She was also known to display the occasional mischievous streak. Once, during a ski trip, she organized a group of friends to "relocate" a senior counselor's VW Bug and "protect" it under a very large pile of snow!
Over the next few years, Chrystyna became reacquainted with fellow scout Yuri Ferencevych from Jersey City, NJ. One thing led to another, and in Summer 1965 she found herself in New York City signing civil marriage documents. Once her immigration paperwork was in order, on January 22, 1966, she married Yuri and following a fun-filled wedding (fire and blizzard included) at St. Nicholas Church in Toronto, started the next chapter of her life in Jersey City, NJ. Here she continued her banking career, rekindled old friendships and formed new ones within the New York/New Jersey Ukrainian American community, often traveling back to Toronto to visit family.
Daughter Yaryna was born in 1972 with son Taras, joining the family in 1974. As her children grew, Chrystyna brought her focus back to education. In the late 1970s, she took evening classes, graduating with a Bachelor of Arts in Literature from Jersey City State College in May of 1980. In those same years she also embarked on a two-decades-long journey as teacher (some might say "taskmaster") of Ukrainian Literature at the Self-Reliance Saturday School of Ukrainian Studies in New York City. Her efforts ensured generations of Ukrainian American kids were acquainted with the rich literary heritage of their ancestral homeland.
Returning to work full-time in 1986, Chrystyna joined the editorial collective of SVOBODA, the Ukrainian language weekly newspaper published by the Ukrainian National Association. On Valentine's Day 2011, she suddenly lost her husband of 45 years, Yuri (Genko) "Tsiukha" Ferencevych. Undaunted, Chrystyna leaned on family and friends and soldiered on, retiring from SVOBODA in 2013 after a 27-year career. In her retirement, Chrystyna often spent time with family and friends in New York's Catskill Mountains enjoying her four grandchildren, Luba and Lev Ferencevych and Dorian and Julian Lanspeary. She is affectionately remembered for late night card games, storytelling, classic movie marathons, love of the British monarchy and delighting in her Canadian-ness.