Olena Hlibowych was the artistic director of Verkhovyna Vocal Ensemble from its inception in 1952.
The Verkhovyna vocal ensemble was formed in 1952 under the directorship of Olena Hlibowych. It performed both classical and contemporary repertoire. In 1954, Verkhovyna was the first Ukrainian Canadian vocal group ever in Canada and the United States to give full concert programmes touring the larger cities of Canada and the United States. After that they performed at many important events other than their performances for the Ukrainian communities, such as World Congress of Professional Women in Toronto, Canadian Club (1955), Stratford Festival (1956), CFRB's Anniversary Celebrations, CTV, etc.
In 1967 Verkhovyna released its first long playing record that was played on CBC and all Ukrainian radio programmes in Canada and the United States. In 1968, they went on a concert tour of Western Canada. After the tour, they were asked to appear as the official representatives for Ontario at Manitoba's Centennial Celebrations. They also performed at Canadian universities (Toronto, York, Windsor, Ottawa, Buffalo), for the Ontario Ethnic Press and many political personalities (Ontario Premiers, Prime Ministers, Governor General of Canada, etc.).
In 1979, the Year of the Child, Verkhovyna paid tribute to Ukrainian children by releasing a long playing record of children's songs and stories "Kurochka Ru Ru Ru" (A Chick Peep Peep).
Verkhovyna celebrated its 30th anniversary in 1982 with another tour of Western Canada winding up with a grand Anniversary Concert in Toronto where many of its past singers attended and once again participated. In honour of this anniversary, the Government of Ontario presented Verkhovyna with a special citation commending its dedicated artistic and community achievements.
1984 brought Verkhovyna to England where they performed in ten cities. The same year - Ontario's Bicentennial - Verkhovyna premiered the song "Ontario, Ontario" (in Ukrainian and English) at Ontario Place and later released a single of this song which was aired on CBC coast to coast.
The colour cover of the record "Verkhovyna Sings" released in 1985 was used as the promotional background on the poster for the Australian tour, to which they were invited after their appearance at the World Congress of Free Ukrainians.
Verkhovyna is known not only for its repertoire (religious, classical, folk, and popular songs in Ukrainian, English and French), but also though its many colourful original and stylized costumes.
Helen Savaryn was a student in the UKR 422 course in the fall term of 1979. At the time, she was in the fourth year of her Bachelor of Education in Music degree.
Opryshko family comes from the village Wisłok Wielki situated in the eastern part of Lemko land. Since 1918 this region has been within the Polish state. Members of Opryshko family received school education at primary school under the rule of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in Ukrainian. Ivan Opryshko married Maria Luchka in 1925. He came to Canada at the age of 24 in 1928. He reached Winnipeg where, thanks to Saint Raphael’s Ukrainian Immigrants Welfare Association of Canada, he met William Romaniuk, a local municipal administrator from Mundare, Alberta, with connections with farmers from the Mundare-Andrew area. Along with his two friends, also from Wisłok, Ivan was taken to work on a farm, where he spent next 6 or 7 years. Ivan's sister, Fenna, came to Canada in 1930 and settled in Vancouver. Ivan stayed in contact with Fenna and visited her in Vancouver in 1947 or 1948.
Ivan and Maria were reunited in 1932. Ivan located a homestead in Prosperity to which they moved. For Maria, the move to rural Canada was a great cultural shock, because of differences in climate, landscape, pattern of settlement, distances, community life, etc. She worked on the farm and never learnt fluent English. There was no need as many of their neighbours were Ukrainians, and Ivan had learnt enough of the language.
Mariya had 4 brothers and a sister. Paraska, her older sister and her brother Mychal were sent or chose to go to Ukraine. Paraska and her daughter Anna who remained in Poland, were displaced to a village of Dobrusha in the western part of the Soviet Ukraine in 1946. Anna Chekanska lived in Ternopil. Fedir, her oldest brother, and brothers Ivan and Andriy were displaced to the north of Poland.
Ivan had 4 brothers and 2 sisters. Petro and Fitcho were sent with their mother to Ukraine. In 1946, Petro and his family were displaced to a village of Kal’ne in the western part of the Soviet Ukraine. Mychal was displaced to the north of Poland (he later returned to Wislok). Maxymilian, the youngest brother, was taken to Nazi Germany for forced labor during the war, spent 3 or 4 years in Buchenwald. After he returned to Wisłok, he joined the Ukrainian Insurgent Army. During the displacement he was imprisoned in the Labour Camp of Jaworzno for 4-5 years. After leaving the prison he went first to Northern Poland and returned to Wislok.
Many of Maria's and Ivan's relatives, for example, Ivan's brother Petro, wrote to them to Canada.
Andrew Mazurenko was born on October 17, 1890 to Fedor Mazurenko and Tatiana Deshlevi in the village of Zelenyi Roh, Kyiv province, which is about 150 km south of Kyiv. He had two brothers, Thomas and John, and sister Irene. At the age of 17, Andrew left home to work for Germans on a farm near Kherson for three years.
On January 8th, 1910, Andrew left his village Zelenyi Roh. He crossed the Austrian border and went to Rotterdam, Holland, from where he went to Canada. He went to Cochrane, Ontario to clear the bush and build railroad. In September 1911, he went back home. He voyaged from Montreal to Liverpool, and then to St. Petersburg.
At home he got married to Maria Shewchuk, on January 23, 1912. They lived together for two months, and Andrew left again for Canada on March 25, 1912. In Canada, he worked on the railroad again, and in 1914 he sent his wife a ticket to join him. He applied for a homestead in Edmonton. Maria came to Edmonton on August 9, 1914. They had a daughter Lena in 1915. Every winter Andrew worked on the railroad and then in a sawmill until 1923. During the summer he worked on the farm. In 1921, their son Victor was born (Irene's father).
They lived on the farm until 1961 and then they moved to a house in Thorhild. Maria dies in 1973. Andrew died on May 10, 1980 and is burried beside his wife at the St. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church cemetery in Thorhild.
Fedor Mazurenko and Tatiana Deshlevi of the village of Zelenyi Roh, Kyiv province, which is about 150 km south of Kyiv, had three sons and one daughter. Andrew was born in 1890, Thomas in 1895, John in 1896 and Irene in 1899. They all immigrated to Canada. Andrew came first in 1910 (at the age of 20), Thomas in 1911 (at the age of 16), John in 1914 (at the age of 18) and Irene in 1914 (at the age of 16). They came to Canada at the strong urging of their father. Their mother died in 1911. They came to find a better life for themselves. Andrew and Thomas first worked in Cochrane, Ontario building the railroad. Later, Andrew moved to Alberta and got a homestead in Thorhild County. The homestead is still in the family as of 2017.
Olga's parents Anna and Andrew Lesik were Stundists who came to Canada in 1903 with their families from a small town called Tarascha near Kiev, Ukraine. Her mother Anna had been married to her father Andrew about a year by then. She was 18 years-old and he was 25. All of mother’s family migrated with them including: Anna's parents Mowchan, Olga's married aunt Nadia, her husband Vasyl, and their small daughter Christina, and her four unmarried uncles – Mike, Stephen, John, and Peter. They settled in Winnipeg, the adults found jobs and eventually built a fine house where they lived for several years. Later they decided to move to Saskatchewan where they took up farms in the south-west of the province. Anna and Andrew had children: John Lesik, Eva (Lesik) Babiuk, Vera Lesik (Vera Lysenko), Olga (Lesik) Vesey born 1907, Nadya and Peter.
Olga graduated from Normal School and taught in rural Manitoba. Because of poor health, Olga moved to teach in Winnipeg. After a number of years teaching her health gave way and she had to resign her position. Olga decided to move to British Columbia. For a short while she taught in interior BC, and then moved to Vancouver and then to Vancouver Island where she worked as a principal of a four-roomed school. Olga got married and had her daughter Nina in Victoria. Since Olga's husband didn't have a job, they had to move to Vancouver where they stayed first with Olga's sister Vera Lysenko. Their son David was born with the serious heart condition and he died during heart surgery at the age of six. Olga taught Aboriginal children in Bella-Bella, on the Campbell Island. Eventually she returned to Vancouver, and in 1962 they bought a house in North Vancouver.
Olga's brother John Lesik was the first Ukrainian-Canadian in all of Canada to become a dentist, practicing in Alberta and Ontario. Her sister Eva (Lesik) Babiuk raised three children on her own, working at the Hotel Vancouver until retirement. Vera Lesik (pen name Vera Lysenko) worked as a journalist and was one of the first Ukrainian-Canadians writing in English: Men in Sheepskin Coats, Westerly Wild, and Yellow Boots. One sibling (Nadya) died in a street car accident at an early age. The youngest brother, Peter Lesik was a radio operator in the Second World War.
Olga was a member of the Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom, hosting yearly garden parties. She translated stories from Ukrainian and some of these were published in The Flying Ship. Some of her translations were African folk tales and stories from ethnic regions from the former Soviet Union—still unpublished. She studied Russian at night school and with a private teacher. Later on in her life she went to UBC part-time, enrolling in upper grade Slavonic Studies, where she studied Ukrainian, the Russian language, Russian history, art and culture, and translation. She finished fourth year studies at the age of 76, having achieved excellent grades. In her eighties she helped to re-publish her sister Vera Lysenko’s novel Yellow Boots.
Canadian Ukrainian Youth Association (Союз української молоді Канади) was formed in 1931 as the Ukrainian Orthodox youth section of the Ukrainian Self-Reliance League, with branches across Canada. H. Tyzuk and P. Yavorsky were pioneer organizers, and I. Danylchuk was an early leader. Sumkivets' was its national quarterly from 1967 to the mid-1970s. Since the early 1970s it has conducted an annual cultural immersion camp, Selo, in various parts of Canada.
Walter Rutka and his twin brother, Anthony, were born in Vimy Ridge near Pine River, Manitoba on June 12, 1929 to parents Joseph and Anastasia (nee Kozar) Rutka. Twin bother, Anthony, succumbed to pneumonia at the age of 3 months.
Walter attended school in Vimy Ridge. At 14 Walter was taken out of school to help on the farm after his father became ill. At age 20 Walter went to work in a gold mine in Ontario for one year, then took a job at a service station in Winnipeg for another year. He then returned to farming full time until 1958.
In August 1960, Walter met and married Dolores Weselowski from Sifton, Manitoba. They had 3 daughters Brenda in 1962, Sheila in 1964, and Charlotte in 1970.
In 1966, Walter joined Manitoba Hydro as a machine operator and retired in 1994 after a career that saw him win several awards, including numerous Hydro Safety awards and the prestigious D.J. Ross award – a Hydro award presented for Walter's tremendous contributions to his community.
Walter was also very active in politics. He was elected as a trustee to the Highway School District for one term, served as a municipal councillor for the RM of Mountain South for six years, was a delegate at the march in Ottawa for the Western Farm Organizations, and was campaign manager for NDP candidate Mike Kowalchuk who was elected that year.
One of Walter's greatest passions was music. In his early 20s, Walter spoke of how he bought a $7 guitar in Winnipeg and brought it home to try to teach himself to play. Walter's idol was Wilf Carter and he spoke of how he would go behind the barn to play his guitar and try to learn to yodel, much to the chagrin of his mother. In the 60s, Walter formed a band called the Sunset Rhythm Ramblers, with friends Joe Caruk on violin, Zenon Caruk on drums, and Walter Nakonechny on accordion. The group played at many weddings and functions for six years.
In 1975, encouraged by many friends and associates, Walter recorded his first record album of his own compositions, calling himself the Ukrainian Cowboy. He went on to record three more albums over the next few years and was invited to play at countless Ukrainian functions and festivals across Canada. Through his music and albums, Walter made endless new friends across Canada and the United States and frequently got letters, gifts, and invitations to visit from many of his fans.
Walter passed away in December 2005.