Michael Nakonechny (Михайло Наконечний, January 20, 1916, Pidlissia village, Zolochiv district, Austro-Hungarian Empire - August 11, 2001, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada). Ukrainian community leader and educator. An alumnus of the Theological Academy of Lviv. Before coming to Canada in 1947 Nakonechny lived in Halychyna (Austro-Hungary) and Germany (Regensburg). After coming to Canada, Nakonechny lived in Winnipeg and Edmonton. In Edmonton, he worked as an Alberta Land Surveyor at the Government of Alberta in the Surveys Branch of the Department of Highways.
Michael Nakonechny was a member of the Ukrainian National Federation of Canada executive; a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary, treasurer, and a board member of the Ukrainian National Federation branches in Winnipeg and Edmonton; a member of the Ukrainian Liberation Fund Committee [Крайовий комітет Українського визвольного фонду]; a member of the Plast organization (nickname Kalamar) and co-editor of the Plast bulletin in Winnipeg; a librarian, secretary and board member of the Ukrainian National Hall in Edmonton; a secretary and member of control commission of the Ukrainian Catholic Brotherhood of Canada, Edmonton diocese; a secretary of the Ukrainian Catholic Council; a member of the Ukrainian War Veterans’ Association main board and a chairman, vice-chairman, secretary and board member of its Edmonton branch; the first secretary of the Ukrainian Canadian Archives and Museum of Alberta; chairman of the Winnipeg Ukrainian National Association [Український народний союз] District Committee, an executive board member and a secretary of Edmonton UNA District Committee; a secretary and board member of the Ukrainian Canadian Congress, Edmonton branch. He was awarded two St George silver medals and the scrolls of honour by the Canadian Foundation for the Ukrainian Free University (December 1, 1988) and the World Congress of Free Ukrainians (November 14, 1987).
Stephania Nahachewsky was born in a farming family in the Cudworth-Alvena area of Saskatchewan. Her father John Olynyk had emigrated from Mushkativka near Borshchiv in the Austro-Hungary (today in Ternopil' region of Ukraine) as a young man prior to WW1. She moved to Saskatoon as a young adult and finished high school at Bedford Road School. She married Ostap Nahachewsky in 1956.
Stephania has been an active member of St. George’s Ukrainian Catholic church ever since she moved to Saskatoon. She was active in drama productions as a young woman, and in the parish choir for many decades. She raised six sons, Thomas, Andriy, David, Ivan, Taras, Bohdan. She and her sisters assisted Ostap at the O&O Drive Inn in Saskatoon for several decades. The O&O Drive Inn was a Drive In restaurant on 20th Street and Avenue L in Saskatoon from approx 1961 to 1992. Inspired by A&W, the restaurant sold hamburgers and hot dogs and pop, as well as pyrohy, holubtsi and borshch.
Stephania has been very active in numerous organizations related to the church, and has contributed much to organizing their records.
Andriy Nahachewsky is a Professor Emeritus at the University of Alberta. He holds a B.A. in Ukrainian Studies (University of Saskatchewan, 1979), a B.F.A. in Dance (York University, 1985), M.A. and Ph.D. in Ukrainian Folklore (University of Alberta, 1985 and 1991, supervised by Bohdan Medwidsky). He has an extensive background in Ukrainian dance, as a performer, instructor, choreographer, workshop leader, critic, adjudicator, and authour. He has taught a wide variety of courses at the university level in many aspects of Ukrainian and Ukrainian Canadian traditional culture. His research interests and publications deal with Ukrainian dance, Ukrainian Canadian identity, material culture, ethnic representation, and dance theory. He has conducted fieldwork in Canada, the U.S.A., Brazil, Ukraine, Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Romania, Poland, and other countries. His most recent book is Ukrainian Dance: A Cross-Cultural Approach (McFarland Press, 2012).
Andriy served as the Director of the Peter and Doris Centre for Ukrainian and Canadian Folklore and Curator of the Bohdan Medwidsky Ukrainian Folklore Archives since their inception and until summer of 2016. Dr. Nahachewsky retired in the summer of 2018, but continues his research and actively participates in the international dance research community.