Stephen Shumeyko: energetic builder of Ukrainian American life (10/23/83)

Stephen Shumeyko: energetic builder of Ukrainian American life

Following the death of the first editor of this newspaper. Stephen Shumeyko, in August 1962, The Ukrainian Weekly, then a section of Svoboda, eulogized him in an editorial:

"For the past 30 years, Stephen Shumeyko was an important and leading figure in the intricate fabric of Ukrainian American life and he was greatly responsible for the cultural mold of our present Ukrainian American generation. More than that he has been a towering Ukrainian American fighter whose influence and views spanned far beyond the boundaries of the Ukrainian American youth organization."

Yet, it was with youth that Mr. Shumeyko began his career in the public eye, and it was the youthful idealism that kept him a leader and organizer over his brief, yet fruitful and diligent career.

It was in 1933 that the 25-year-old Mr. Shumeyko assumed editorship of the Ukrainian Weekly, an English-language supplement to Svoboda established through the efforts of the 18th Convention of the Ukrainian National Association held that year.

The oldest of seven children, Stephen was born on January 17, 1908, in Newark, N.J., the son of Michael and Tekla Shumeyko, immigrants from western Ukraine.

Soon after Stephen's birth, the family moved back to the Ternopil region of Ukraine to show off the grandson, recalls his sister, Anne Sedlock, from family stories. It was in Ukraine that two more siblings, Mary and Anthony, were born before the family ventured back to the United States. In the states, four more children were born: Anne, Daniel, Sophia and Theodore.

The family, recalls Mrs. Sedlock, was close-knit and very aware of its Ukrainian roots. The head of the family, Michael, was a leading activist at St. John's Ukrainian Catholic Church and the children were all engaged in church activities, especially the church choir.

"We were quite a singing family. During every gathering there was singing in the house," recalls Tony Shumeyko.

According to his brother Ted, currently a partner in the public relations firm of T.J. Ross in New York, Stephen had a beautiful tenor voice. He and his brothers were featured on the Sonart recording of the Koshetz Choir, which toured the United States. Stephen could boast of Prof. Kaskiw, Alexander Koshetz and Michael Hayvoronsky as personal friends. He also belonged to the "Simka," a choir composed of seven area church choirs.

As a young adult, he organized a social club for students in the Newark area, which eventually led to the formation of the Youth Chorus of New Jersey and then merged with the New York Chorus, directed by Stephen Marusevich.

Stephen graduated from Central High School and when the time came to decide on a career, his father suggested law, for he felt the Newark community needed an able lawyer.

Stephen pursued law at the New Jersey Law School, today's Rutgers. He supported himself by working. In notes on this experience, he wrote the following.

"One of the most interesting and arduous experiences I had when working my way through law school was the job I had with the Pennsylvania Railroad. I had been working at some other jobs then, but not too well-paying. In a want ad column, I saw that the PR needed typists in its freight department. I went to the Waverly Freight Yards, just outside of Newark, was interviewed, and told to report in a week to the Greenville freight Yards in Jersey City adjoining the Hudson River, not very far from the Statue of Liberty. My salary was to be $32 per week, which in those days - this was in 1929 - was very good for a fellow my age - 21 years old.

"But now came the rub. I didn't know a darn thing about typing, although I faked to the interviewer, who was boss of the huge Waverly yards, that I did know how to type. I promptly hired a typewriter, practiced on it daily, and became not badly proficient at it.

"In a couple of months I got a better-paying job, that of a checker of the cars. My job was to trudge up and down the long rows of cars, with a lantern slung over my left forearm, a listing held in my left hand, and a pencil in right hand. My task was to list the car number, the railroad it belonged to, and also the seal numbers. I worked from 4 to 12 p.m., and sometimes I had to work two shifts, from 1 p.m. to 4 a.m. The work was not hard in itself, but very hard because of the very intense cold.

"My law school hours were from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. My timing schedule was as follows: I would get up from bed at about a quarter to 8. The walk to school, at a fast pace was about a half hour in length. I'd get home about 1:30 p.m., change my clothes, have a quick lunch, and then hike to the Hudson Tubes station, not far from the law school, take a train to Journal Square, from there take a Greenville bus, about a 20-minute ride up to Gates Avenue, and then hike through the yard, some three-quarters of a mile, or hitch a ride - a hazardous thing - on one of the moving freight trains making their way down to the bridges. After work I would get home by 2 a.m., have something to eat, then bed, etc. I always had with me several law books, which I studied while traveling back and forth to work."

Mr. Shumeyko graduated from law school, but he never practiced law. He got married and became involved in the Ukrainian community, first writing for the Ukrainian Catholic daily America, in 1931.

In August 1933, Mr. Shumeyko traveled to the Chicago World's Fair, where the Ukrainians had organized their own pavilion and where the Ukrainian Youth League of North America was founded. It was a time when the first generation of Ukrainian Americans was growing up. It was a time when youth recognized the need for an organization through which it could share its problems, enthusiasm and friendship.

In this prevailing atmosphere of hope, as hundreds of youths were mobilized into action, Mr. Shumeyko was elected their president. Later he was also elected president of the Ukrainian Professional Society of North America, a twin organization for older individuals also founded at the World's Fair in Chicago.

In his recollections, of student days he wrote:

"Literature and English I always liked, which probably gave me a bent for writing. To Chaucer I took like a duck, and still can recite from memory passages (I have a good memory). I finished first in English in the graduating class."

After returning from a highly motivating UYL-NA convention in Chicago, its president and founder Mr. Shumeyko gave up a career in law, which did not interest him, and assumed the editorship of the Ukrainian Weekly with the first issue dated October 6, 1933. Under the guiding hand of Dr. Luke Myshuha, Svoboda editor-in-chief, the Ukrainian Weekly was born. It was a newspaper of youth, for youth, by youth.

The 1962 Weekly editorial written after Mr. Shumeyko's death notes this:

"Our youth owes a great deal to Steve. As the first editor of The Ukrainian Weekly. He became their mentor and guided their educational and their social and cultural training with this all-important objective in mind: that they become good and patriotic Americans and that they should also become able and effective fighters for a cause - which is so dear and close to the hearts of their immigrant parents: the freedom and national independence of Ukraine."

The neophyte took his job as editor of the Weekly seriously. He persevered, skillfully blending news of current problems in the Ukrainian American community with national and international issues, reacting strongly to U.S. recognition of the Soviet Union and urging all Ukrainian Americans to make others aware of the Great Famine raging through Ukraine and the Polonization of the western Ukrainian lands in the 1930s; encouraging support for the United States war effort in the 1940s; helping the new immigrants in the 1950s.

A lover of literature, he introduced English translations of Ukrainian works by Shevchenko, Franko, Stefanyk, Kotsiubynsky and others - many of which he prepared himself.

He wrote many essays and articles on Ukrainian culture, literature and political history, contributing to numerous magazines and journals.

In the first issue of the Ukrainian Quarterly in 1940, Mr. Shumeyko, then president of the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America, wrote about Ukrainian Americans. He noted the role of The Ukrainian Weekly of which he was still editor: "The younger American-born generation has The Ukrainian Weekly, published in English by the UNA. It strives to serve the younger generation from the viewpoint of their American environment and Ukrainian background: imparting to them a keen appreciation of the best elements of both and helping them to adjust themselves properly to both."

On the 10th anniversary of the founding of the newspaper, he ventured to summarize the work The Weekly had had done.

"The Ukrainian Weekly has endeavored to fulfill its function as such to the best of its ability. Primarily it has devoted itself to the problems and issues confronting our young people in relation to their Ukrainian background and their American environment. In this connection it has, first of all, striven to make them good and loyal Americans. Likewise it has endeavored to make them worthy descendants of the freedom-loving Ukrainian race. At the same time it has constantly inculcated them with the idea that as native-born Americans of Ukrainian descent they are duty-bound to help their blood kinsmen in foreign-occupied and oppressed Ukraine to win the national freedom for which they have been fighting and sacrificing for many centuries.

"These then have been the main objectives of the Ukrainian Weekly. To attain them The Weekly has (1) propagated among its readers the inspiring principles of Americanism; (2) given them at least a rudimentary knowledge of their Ukrainian cultural heritage and also of the centuries-old Ukrainian struggle for national freedom; (3) supported, and at times inspired their organizational efforts; (4) impressed upon them the necessity of their becoming active members of the UNA - the chief bulwark of Ukrainian American life; (5) acted as a forum for their views on the various important problems and issues facing them; (6) kept them abreast of the latest developments in Ukrainian American organized life; (7) kept them informed on the current events in the land from which their parents emigrated; and (8) generally provided for them a type of inspiration, information and reading which they cannot get elsewhere.

"How far The Ukrainian Weekly has advanced towards its objectives, is not for us to say. However, we would like to point out a fact long-recognized by impartial observers, that no other younger generation of Americans of old world background is as group-conscious as is the Ukrainian American younger generation, and that no other such generation has shown as much interest in its old world cultural heritage and the valuable role it can play in the development of American life and culture, as has the younger generation of Americans of Ukrainian descent. We like to think that The Ukrainian Weekly deserves some credit for this. In any event, if thus far The Ukrainian Weekly has succeeded in serving our younger generation as well as the Svoboda has served the older generation, then certainly it may be said that The Weekly has done more than well enough."

A true and untiring idealist, Mr. Shumeyko continued to take an active role in all aspects of Ukrainian American life, often being asked to speak at various events, on various topics. He was relentless in serving the community.

During this time, the Ukrainian American community was advancing politically, and new organizations were forming. In his notes. Mr. Shumeyko wrote about this time:

"I first came into contact with the Ukrainian Congress Committee of America when it was still embryonic in formation. It spawned from the conferences held in early 1940 between the representatives of the 'Big Four,' that is the four fraternals, the Ukrainian National Association, the Ukrainian Workingmen's Association, the Providence Association of Ukrainian Catholics in America and the Ukrainian National Association.

"Most of the meetings were held at the UNA, and, as an observer, I attended quite a number of them. The sessions were long. Sometimes there was harmony prevailing at them, more often than not there were acrimonious debates. ...

"Finally, it was decided to convene in Washington the First Congress of Americans of Ukrainian Descent. That congress was held in May of 1940. It was attended by hundreds of delegates and guests from all over the country. It featured addresses on pertinent subjects, discussions on them - which in some cases were bitterly partisan, a concert given by a male chorus superbly led by the late Prof. Alexander Koshetz of international fame, and the usual banquet. Many U.S. senators and congressmen addressed this conclave, while others sent in their greetings and expressions of hope that Ukraine will soon regain its national independence. Among the principal speakers was I. My address was in English. And thus the UCCA came into being with duly elected officers, and much hope was placed on it."

Mr. Shumeyko was elected the president of this newly formed UCCA, which got off to a shaky start, but was later revitalized when he served as president again in 1943 and 1946.

In 1945, at the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco, he led a Ukrainian American delegation which presented a lengthy memorandum to various delegations, demanding the right of the Ukrainian people to freedom. Meeting with the Soviet Union's Foreign Minister Vyacheslav Molotov, Mr. Shumeyko declared that Molotov "professed to represent the Ukrainian people," but added that "anyone acquainted with the totalitarian nature of the Soviet state realized that under such conditions there can be no true Ukrainian representation at the current security parley."

In the summer of 1946, Mr. Shumeyko went to Paris, the scene of the Peace Conference, where he delivered a detailed and moving memorandum on the plight of enslaved Ukraine and conducted interviews and conversations with foreign diplomats and newspaper correspondents, many of which he knew personally.

The following year, he was instrumental in the creation of the Pan-American Ukrainian Conference, in which Ukrainian central organizations from the United States, Canada, Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, Paraguay and Venezuela, joined together for the purpose of enlisting the support of citizens and governments of both North and South America for the captive Ukrainian people.

In 1959, due to health reasons, Mr. Shumeyko retired as editor of The Ukrainian Weekly, a post he held for over 25 years, however, he continued to free-lance for the publication, and translated articles for Ukraine: A Concise Encyclopedia.

He died on August 12, 1962, after a stroke followed be a severe case of pneumonia. He was 51 years old.

The Weekly editorial following his death concluded on this note:

"Above all, what his contemporaries treasured in Steve was his good nature, his disposition to help everyone, to give advice or a helping hand to those who needed it, and his gentlemanly ways and manners."

In a personal remembrance, written by Dimitri Horbay, the writer adds that Mr. Shumeyko was reserved and later developed a teasing sense of humor. He praises Mr. Shumeyko for his loyalty toward friends, saying: "Once he made friends with you, there was nothing you could do, no hurt you might inflict upon him to terminate his friendship with you. To him friendship was a lifelong thing."

Stephen Shumeyko had died before his time, a dedicated, idealistic man, who was committed to the problems of Ukrainian American youth throughout his entire lifetime. His friend, Mr. Horbay, remembers a conversation with another close friend of Mr. Shumeyko's: "It is a pity he was not a wealthy man - a man dedicated to the Ukrainian movement as he was, does not have time to accumulate wealth - or he would have made some provision to leave a material legacy for his beloved Ukrainian American youth along with the spiritual one. Perhaps, a scholarship fund," the friend commented.

Mr. Horbay thought to himself: "I am quite sure Stephen is happy with things just the way they are, for, all his life, he placed spiritual values above material wealth."

All photographs accompanying Shumeyko profile were provided courtesy of The Ukrainian Museum's Shumeyko Archives and Ted Shumeyko.

Ukrainian Weekly editors past and present

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