Obituary for Maria Pundyk (Karkoc)
Born June 22, 1923 (Horodok, Vohlynnia, Ukraine)
Died January 8, 2022 (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
It is with great sadness that the family must announce the passing of Maria Pundyk-Smaha née Karkoc. A pillar has fallen away from the family and the Ukrainian-American community.
At age 16, Maria escaped the Nazis by running out the back door, dragging her mother with her. A few years later, she was trudging in a Red Cross uniform over the snowy Alps to Salzburg, where she might find Americans. She married, immigrated to the United States, supported her husband as he earned his university degree, moved to the Iron Range of Minnesota, where she raised her family while he taught at the local college. And for the rest of her 98.5 years, Maria did not stop. She was strong. She was valiant. She was tenacious.
She participated in St. Michael’s and St. George’s choir and other community choirs. As a Sisterhood president, it would not be an exaggeration to say she made millions of pyrohy in her lifetime and served on the church board. She commanded and demanded grace, manners, and loyalty. She was a Ukrainian Patriot. Wife. Mother. God-loving and God-fearing. She opened her heart to anyone who needed help, including a friend with Alzheimer’s whom she cared for, for three years.
The family is experiencing a vacuum with her death. She led a long life and, witnessed persecution and war, but one would never have guessed this. But she made sure that her family and grandchildren knew where they came from, and what she went through for them to be here. She was gentle, committed, active, doted on her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and helped the people in her community.
She doled out advice and wisdom the way she served up her pyrohy, pyrizhki, holubtsi, nalysnyky and zelenyi borscht. She was committed to God and to the Ukrainian Orthodox community. In her gentle and humorous way, she touched everyone she knew and was much loved.
Maria leaves behind children, Lesya Lucyk, Olga Pundyk Nohra, Roman Pundyk (Vitalia); grandchildren, Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger (Manfred), Stefan Lucyk (Victoria), Samuel Nohra; great grandchildren, Alex Lucyk, Kaitlin Lucyk, Julia Lucyk.
Funeral service will be held at St. Michael’s & St. George’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Northeast Minneapolis on Thursday, January 13, 2022 at 11 AM with visitation one hour prior to services. Interment Sunset Cemetery.
Donations for a charity to be determined are preferred to flowers.
Died January 8, 2022 (Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA)
It is with great sadness that the family must announce the passing of Maria Pundyk-Smaha née Karkoc. A pillar has fallen away from the family and the Ukrainian-American community.
At age 16, Maria escaped the Nazis by running out the back door, dragging her mother with her. A few years later, she was trudging in a Red Cross uniform over the snowy Alps to Salzburg, where she might find Americans. She married, immigrated to the United States, supported her husband as he earned his university degree, moved to the Iron Range of Minnesota, where she raised her family while he taught at the local college. And for the rest of her 98.5 years, Maria did not stop. She was strong. She was valiant. She was tenacious.
She participated in St. Michael’s and St. George’s choir and other community choirs. As a Sisterhood president, it would not be an exaggeration to say she made millions of pyrohy in her lifetime and served on the church board. She commanded and demanded grace, manners, and loyalty. She was a Ukrainian Patriot. Wife. Mother. God-loving and God-fearing. She opened her heart to anyone who needed help, including a friend with Alzheimer’s whom she cared for, for three years.
The family is experiencing a vacuum with her death. She led a long life and, witnessed persecution and war, but one would never have guessed this. But she made sure that her family and grandchildren knew where they came from, and what she went through for them to be here. She was gentle, committed, active, doted on her grandchildren and great grandchildren, and helped the people in her community.
She doled out advice and wisdom the way she served up her pyrohy, pyrizhki, holubtsi, nalysnyky and zelenyi borscht. She was committed to God and to the Ukrainian Orthodox community. In her gentle and humorous way, she touched everyone she knew and was much loved.
Maria leaves behind children, Lesya Lucyk, Olga Pundyk Nohra, Roman Pundyk (Vitalia); grandchildren, Chrystyna Lucyk-Berger (Manfred), Stefan Lucyk (Victoria), Samuel Nohra; great grandchildren, Alex Lucyk, Kaitlin Lucyk, Julia Lucyk.
Funeral service will be held at St. Michael’s & St. George’s Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Northeast Minneapolis on Thursday, January 13, 2022 at 11 AM with visitation one hour prior to services. Interment Sunset Cemetery.
Donations for a charity to be determined are preferred to flowers.