Ilko William Kowalenko

Ilko "Bill" William Kowalenko
Edwardsville - Ilko William "Bill" Kowalenko died November 29, 2025, at Anderson Hospital in Maryville, Illinois. He was born on August 2, 1937. He lived a full life while facing challenges few of us rarely experience.
He was born the son of Fedor Kowalenko and Maria Nezdominiha, in the Donbas region of Ukraine just after the farm collectivization efforts of Soviet leader Joseph Stalin caused the mass-starvation referred to as the Holodomor. An estimated four million Ukrainians starved to death, including Bill's sister, Zorina.
During World War II, his family faced threats from both Stalin and Hitler. His father had been conscripted into the Soviet Army and had been captured by the Germans and held in a POW camp. He managed to escape and returned to Ukraine to gather his family. They fled their home and became refugees for the next decade. Decades later, Bill still recalls the Nazi bombardment his family experienced as they neared the western Ukrainian border. "You never forget the sounds of those bombs."
Small decisions often resulted in life-altering consequences. Their traveling group fleeing Ukraine split into two groups. One went northwest toward Poland - they didn't survive. Bill's family went southwest through Romania and Hungary. They made it to Austria where his dad did farm work. The Nazis took his dad and older brother to concentration camps where they witnessed and experienced the horrors of the Holocaust. His dad survived his camp. His brother, Anatoly, did not - dying at Bergen-Belsen.
At the war's end, facing exile to Siberia if they chose to return to their beloved Ukraine, the family decided to not return to Soviet persecution and became stateless. They lived in the refugee camps for four years till they immigrated to the United States in 1949.
They lived in New York at a time when people spoke of America being the great melting pot. On August 7, 1960, Bill married Carol Ann Fife. She survives.
Bill attended Bayside High School, the Academy of Aeronautics in New York, and Indiana Technical College, where he earned his degree in Mechanical Engineering. He became a manager of industrial plants in North Bergen, New Jersey, Charlotte, Michigan, New Orleans, Louisiana, Waco, Texas, and Toledo, Ohio. He advanced to global operations and traveled worldwide sharing his expertise in glass production and furnace operations.
His family grew as they welcomed a daughter, Lisa, in 1964 and a son, Stephen, in 1980.
In 2019, Bill and Carol moved to Edwardsville, Illinois to be near their son and his family.
Bill was predeceased by his parents, Fedor Kowalenko and Maria Nezdominiha, his sister, Zorina, and his brothers, Anatoly and Konstanyn, and his son-in-law, Paul Ross. He is survived by his wife of 65 years, Carol Kowalenko, née Fife, of Glen Carbon, Illinois; his daughter, Lisa Kowalenko, of New York, New York; and his son, Stephen Kowalenko (Christine) of Edwardsville. He was a loving grandfather (didu?) and is survived by his grandchildren, Ivan Kowalenko Ross, Sophia, Sydney, and Luke Kowalenko, and Carter Linn.
Bill never lost his Ukrainian accent and he remained dedicated to the cause of Ukrainian culture and independence. He had little tolerance for those who suggested appeasement or surrender. For those wishing to honor his memory, memorial gifts may be made to Firefighter Aid Ukraine or Razom for Ukraine.
Memorial visitation will be 10 a.m. to 12 noon on Wednesday, December 10, 2025 at Barry Wilson Funeral Home in Maryville, Ill.
Memorial service will follow at 12 noon.
Condolences may be expressed to the family at barrywilsonfuneralhome.com