Obituary of Olha L. Sukhenko

Sukhenko, Olha L. Greece: Surrounded by her family on Monday, May 12, 2014 at the age of 66. Predeceased by her parents, Jaroslav & Luba Briacz. She is survived by her loving husband of 46 years, Val Sukhenko; children, Tim Sukhenko, Tamara (David) Evans, Eric Sukhenko; grandchildren, Madison & Andrew Evans; sisters, Earka Luzecky, Kathy (Anton) Temschenko, Nadia Briach; brothers-in-law, Alex (Maria) & Victor (Valentina) Sukhenko; 4 Godchildren; many nieces, nephews, cousins and friends. Olha Luba was born to Jaroslav and Luba Briacz on September 13, 1947, in Borssum, Germany, 265 miles west of Berlin. She was the third child to join the family, after sisters Earka and Kathy. Her parents decided to leave Germany to seek a better life for the family. After applying for visas to 10 nations, Argentina granted their request. Their journey would begin in the spring of 1950 when the family boarded a train bound for Italy. It wouldn't be long before they would be en route to Argentina. Unfortunately, they would be detained in Italy for one month because baby Olha developed the viral infection, Roseola, high fever and a rash, common in children. Once she recovered, they were able to board a ship. The route took them through the Strait of Gibralter, south to Dakar, on the the west African coastal nation of Senegal, and finally across the Atlantic to a new land, a new language, and a new life. Settling in Hudson, 20 miles southeast of Buenos Aires, the family quickly learned their new language and the girls attended school. The family had little, but appreciated the kindness and generosity of the then first lady, Evita Peron, whose charity to the poor is well known. It was the Eva Peron Foundation which supplied Olha and her sisters with school supplies and her father a construction job on one of the many housing developments planned by the first lady. Olha enjoyed her connection to the legendary Evita. Later, she would enjoy the musical Evita in Toronto with her special friend Tatiana Fernandez-Garcia and sister Kathy. In 1952, Olha lost her position as the baby in the family when a fourth daughter, Nadia, was born. The following year, Olha started first grade. Earka and Kathy recalled how they would have to walk Olha to school, located five miles away and drop her off in her classroom. When Olha was seven or eight, she joined her sisters picking fruit and vegetables in the orchard and farm of a family friend. Some of Olhas paternal aunts and uncles had immigrated to America and encouraged her family to join them there. Eleven year old Olha and her family sold all their possessions and boarded a plane bound for Rochester, New York. After stops in Chile and Peru, they arrived in New York City on December 18, 1958. Uncle Joe Rywak met them at the airport, and packed the family into two taxis for the drive to the train station. Olha and her family lived with her fathers sister Ivanka and her husband Joe for close to four months while they got settled, learned yet another language, enrolled in #36 School or found work. During this time, Olha and her sisters joined CYM (pronounced soom) a Ukrainian youth organization. There, she would play the mandolin in the orchestra and make lifelong friends whom she cherished. Sadly, this happy new life was forever changed in 1960 when Olha's beloved father died suddenly while walking home from work. It was just the five of them for a couple years until Olha's mother, Luba, remarried in 1962. While attending Benjamin Franklin High School, Olha volunteered at Strong Memorial Hospital delivering magazines or flowers to patients. Around the age of 17, she attended full time classes at Continental School of Beauty where she honed her hairdressing and cosmetology talents; skills that would prove very useful later. Upon graduation, she took a job at Albert's Beauty Shop in Irondequoit. During a summer rain in 1963, Olha and sister were walking home when Nick Labash and Val Sukhenko happen to drive by and offer them a ride home. It was the first meeting for Olha and Val. That fall, at a CYM dance, Olha and Val, who arrived seperately, spent most of the evening dancing together. As luck would have it, they were crowned king and queen and took to the dance floor for a spotlight dance to the song, Under Paris Skies. Romance blossomed and they started to date shortly thereafter. In June of 1964, they traveled to Washington D.C. to attend the dedication of the Taras Shevchenko memorial. Over 36,000 took part in a weekend of festivities that included concerts throughout the city and a parade on Saturday. At the unveiling, former President Eisenhower spoke. Eisenhower, who had signed the September 1960 bill that provided for the erection of a monument to Shevchenko, praised his poetry and his fight for freedom. In addition to the ceremony, the couple would tour Washington D.C. at night, hand in hand, arm in arm, counting all the steps up to the capitol building and other monuments in the moonlight. Val and Olha would later relish telling their children how they had seen and photographed an American president. In May of 1965, Val was drafted into the army and spent two months in basic training in Fort Dix, New Jersey. He would be home for a week before he was sent to Fort Knox in Kentucky for additional training. Knowing he would be sent to South Korea in the spring of 1966, Val proposed to his beloved Olha and she happily accepted. Sergeant Sukhenko began his assignment overseas and letters would flow back and forth between the pair. He came home in the spring of 1967, just in time for their August 27th wedding at the Ukrainian Orthodox church on Bay Street. After a week long honeymoon in Bermuda, they returned to Rochester and rented an apartment from Val's parents. Life was good. They even found time to attend the 1967 Worlds Fair in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Being a young married couple cost money, even in the late 60's. Olha and her good friend Daria Kompaniec decided to start a hairdressing business, Supreme Coiffeur, on Clinton Avenue. Val would begin his 37 year career at Xerox. In 1969, Olha and Val would become home owners, with the purchase of 315 Waring Road, in Rochester. They would spend the next several years enjoying married life, attending dances, vacationing in the Bahamas and Florida. Olha would stop working to concentrate on starting a family. In 1974, a long awaited child was born and they named him Timothy. The family would grow again with the birth of a daughter, Tamara Nicole, in 1975. Running out of room in their small city house, the family moved to a home in Greece. Countless celebrations, pool parties and family gatherings were held in the spacious backyard. Val's mother, widowed since 1973, would move into the lower half of the split level. The family would be complete with the arrival of Eric J.,in 1977. The role of mother came naturally to Olha. She dedicated her life to their upbringing and found joy in raising them. Her Ukrainian heritage was extremely important to her and she wanted to pass that on to them. She enrolled them in Ukrainian school and a Ukrainian youth organization, similar to the one she belonged to in her childhood. All three children would play an instrument, as she had, and join a Ukrainian dance group. Tim played the accordion, Tamara played the piano, and Eric played the trumpet and mandolin. In October 1979, they had outgrown the house and moved to a larger one, still in Greece. Raising her children, while Val provided for the family, was her top priority in the new decade. The logistics of school trips, vacations, dance rehearsals and recitals, camping, visits to the Pohorilenko family in Philadelphia, Ukrainian Festivals, birthdays, First Holy Communions, soccer games, music lessons, doctor and dentist appointments, concerts, Ukrainian school, countless trips to see the Pidsadny family in Canada, and parent/teacher conferences had to be coordinated without the aid of a computer. She did it flawlessly, but was known to be late on occasion. Actually, she was late all the time. Family was the most important aspect of life for Olha, second only to her faith. Not only did this include her husband and children, but the countless relatives she and Val hosted from Canada, England, Ukraine, Russia, and Germany. Olha was the consummate hostess and entertainer. Every visitor was well cared for because of Olha's thoughtfulness. So many times, she and Val happily took international relatives to Niagara Falls, Darien Lake, or New York City. Because of that love of family, and their love of travel, Val and Olha would embark on a monthlong visit to the Soviet Union, visiting Val's cousins, first in Moscow and then 3,400 miles east in Siberia. It was quite a reunion with the children in Toronto when Val and Olha returned safe and sound. In August 1988, they celebrated their 25th wedding anniversary with a surprise party organized by their children and relatives. In 1989, Val and Olha would visit their past, traveling to Argentina and Brazil with Bill and Halya Szawranskyj. They enjoyed visiting their respective childhood homes and the areas they remembered from so many years before. In the summer of 1991, Olha and Val took their kids, niece Tonia and friend Tom, to Manchester, England to visit her beloved Aunt Vera, cousins Marika, Michael, Terry, Oksana, Halena and their respective children. Olha enjoyed every moment spent with her English cousins. After three amazing weeks, Olha and the family crossed the English Channel by hovercraft and spent a few days in Paris to wrap up their European adventure. It was near the Eiffel Tower where Olha and Val danced a waltz while humming the melody to their wedding song, Under Paris Skies. In the mid eighty's, it became necessary to build an addition to the back of the house so Olha's mother-in-law could live with the family. Olha, in addition to taking care of her children and husband, became Baba's primary caregiver. Olha was proud as each of her children received a college education and started following their own self guided paths. She worked at Sam's Club in Greece as a "demo lady" and loved going in every day. There she made lasting impressions with everyone she encountered. In 1999, Tamara married David Evans and Olha shined as the mother of the bride and hostess for a truly memorable evening. The following year, Olha and her sisters where with their mother when she passed away in Arizona. Two of the happiest moments of Olha's life were the births of her grandchildren; Maddie in 2001 and Andrew in 2004. She cared for them like she had done so many years before with her own children. In recent years, she enjoyed many vacations with her husband, daughter, son-in-law, and grandchildren, spending carefree days in the Mexican sun, or on a cruise ship in the Caribbean. She and Val spent a few winters in Phoenix, staying with her sister Nadia. Olha absolutely loved getting away from the snow and cold. She would call her children often to tell them how warm it was that day and what plans she had outdoors, knowing what the weather was like in Rochester. Not only was she proud of her children and grandchildren, she reveled in the accomplishments of her Godchildren and their families; Michael Luzecky, Laura Murray, Mark Sukhenko and Christina Pohorilenko Delnero. Olha would call them every year on their birthday, send cards when she could and took a genuine interest in their lives. She loved each one of them and smiled at the mere mention of their name or at the sound of their voice. For her, it was a bond that was very, very special. After downsizing the house and moving to Flynn Road, Olha, among many other activities and interests, enjoyed gardening, going to church, nurturing her indoor plants, and shopping. She played an active role in her grand-children's upbringing. She loved spending time with her sisters and together they shared a unique history. Her children are her legacy and they will live each day with lessons she taught them and love she showed them. Her husband has lost his beloved after 46 years of marriage but that bond can never be broken. Please keep them all in your prayers for the strength to face a future without her. After her diagnosis on April 2, 2014, she never once complained or asked "why me?" That was Olha, a brave, gallant and strong woman to the end. To those who knew and loved her, she graced our lives. She will be missed every day and we look forward to seeing her again, someday. Our family would like to thank the nurses and doctors at Rochester General Hospital, Lipson Cancer Center, and the staff at Leo Center for Caring for their loving care and dedication. Her family will receive friends THURSDAY 4:00 - 8:00pm at the funeral home (570 Kings Hwy South). Panachyda 7pm. Friends are invited to meet the family FRIDAY 10:00am at ST. JOSAPHAT'S UKRAINIAN CATHOLIC CHURCH for her Divine Liturgy. Interment Holy Sepulchre Cemetery. Memorials may be directed to St. Josaphat's Church. To share a memory or send the family a condolence, please visit www.harrisfuneralhome.com.