DEHAAS o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-06-08 published
Devoted to her beloved Ukrainian community and her faith
By Katherina
DEHAAS,
Sun.,
June 8, 2008
An empty chair marked the place where Helen
WOLODCHENKO would
have sat at a recent gathering to remember the lives lost during
the Ukrainian genocide of 1932-33.
She died in her sleep that week, on May 19, and is sadly missed
by London's Ukrainian community.
WOLODCHENKO was 87.
"We called her the matriarch. When we lost her, when we buried
her, we lost a pillar of our church," said Vivian
KOSCHMANN,
a close family friend whom
WOLODCHENKO called "third daughter."
Known for her involvement in the community and the church,
WOLODCHENKO
was also a legendary fundraiser.
"Her walls were adorned with medals and plaques from city hall,
all tributes paid to her over the years by city hall and the
Ukrainian community," said her daughter, Lena
WOLODCHENKO.
She was the longest-serving president of the women's club at
Holy Trinity Ukrainian Orthodox Church, a position she held for
17 years.
Helen WOLODCHENKO also served as the cook at the Ukrainian club
at 247 Adelaide St. S. for many years.
"She did a lot for the community," said
KOSCHMANN.
WOLODCHENKO was a survivor of the Ukrainian genocide of 1932,
a famine imposed by Joseph Stalin's regime.
She came to Canada in 1949 and moved to London a year later when
she heard about the city's small Ukrainian community.
"She was passionate about her homeland and she wanted all her
traditions carried on here and she worked hard to do it,"
KOSCHMANN
said.
WOLODCHENKO was even known to host church services in the basement
of her Clarence Street home, until Holy Trinity was built.
"She was just passionate about her church and her native land,"
KOSCHMANN said.
"She'll be remembered for what she did. I don't think we'll ever
forget her."
WOLODCHENKO is survived by a brother in the Ukraine and many
cousins.
In Canada, she is survived by her three children, Lena
WOLODCHENKO,
Zena EDGAR and Bill
WOLODCHENKO, two grand_sons, two great-grandchildren
and countless Friends.
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DEHAAS o@ca.on.middlesex_county.london.london_free_press 2008-06-12 published
Beloved poet, prof, playwright 'an artistic giant'
James REANEY, 1926-2008
By Katherina
DEHAAS and Patrick
MALONEY, Sun Media, Thurs., June 12,
James REANEY, a national literary icon who stayed close to his
Southwestern Ontario roots during a celebrated, 50-year career
as a playwright, poet and professor, has died.
The longtime Londoner died last night in London following a long
illness. He was 81.
"It was a peaceful end to a great life," his son, Free Press
journalist James
REANEY, said. "We know that he will be remembered
and his contributions to Canadian culture will be valued."
Born on a Stratford-area farm in 1926,
REANEY was an acclaimed
poet, playwright, author, opera librettist and University of
Western Ontario English professor.
He won three Governor-General's Awards for poetry and drama,
and a 1974 Chalmers Award for best Canadian play.
"He was so great," said Nancy
POOLE, a former Museum London director
who met REANEY at University of Western Ontario.
"He was a gentleman, an intellectual, an artistic giant in the
Canadian scene."
REANEY won his first Governor-General's Award in 1949 at age
23 for a collection of poetry, The Red Heart.
In 1960, he began teaching at University of Western Ontario and
started publishing Alphabet, a semi-annual periodical devoted
"to the iconography of the imagination."
In 1966, he founded the Listener's Workshop and began working
with child and adult actors in choral ensemble works.
REANEY,
whose play Colours in the Dark premiered in Stratford in 1967,
received the Order of Canada in 1975.
His best known dramatic work may be a trilogy of plays about
the 1880 massacre of the Donnelly family in Lucan.
He was 10 when his stepfather told him the stirring story, stoking
in REANEY an interest that would lead him to write the three
plays that not only dramatized the legend, but arguably also
brought it into focus historically.
The trilogy is among a handful of Canadian works listed among
the 1,000 most significant plays of all time by the Oxford Dictionary
of Plays.
He was also an amateur painter and pianist whose works were exhibited
in London and Toronto.
REANEY enjoyed such respect that even small details of his life
inspired artisans, says Martha
HENRY, former Grand Theatre artistic
director.
HENRY, who acted in two
REANEY plays, recalled a tour last summer
of his boyhood home.
"It was amazing," she said. "We went up into the attic where
he used to write. He's an icon. A complete original."
REANEY is survived by his wife, son and daughter, two granddaughters
and two siblings.
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DEHEDERVARY o@ca.on.york_county.toronto.globe_and_mail 2008-07-09 published
KEANE,
Shirley
Anne
(SAVARD)
(August 20, 1942-July 9, 1983)
Mother If I could only speak to her And hold her loving hand
No matter all the years apart I know she'd understand. Forever
missed by your daughter Deborah Lee
KEANE
(DEHEDERVARY) of Box 616,
Riverton, Manitoba.
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