FACES AND PLACES
by Myron B. Kuropas
She lives in our hearts: a love story
When I was researching my history of Ukrainian America, I learned many things about the people who built our community.
Some individuals were villains. Many more were heroes, people able to accomplish extraordinary tasks consistently and courageously.
Among my heroes was the late Walter Dushnyck. While still a young man, he became active in the Organization for the Rebirth of Ukraine (ODWU), established at the request of Col. Yevhen Konovalets, head of the Organization of Ukrainian Nationalists (OUN). During the 1930s, ODWU was labeled a "fascist" organization by the Popular Front and the United Ukrainian Toilers Organization (both of which were controlled by Communists), the Ukrainian Workingmen's Association and the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith.
Forced to respond to the unfounded attacks once America went to war, the FBI investigated ODWU and the UNA - which at the time boasted a Supreme Assembly dominated by ODWU members. Both organizations were exonerated in 1943, following a long and thorough investigation.
While the defamation campaign was in progress, many ODWU members, alarmed by Communist and ADL demands that they be deported to Soviet Ukraine, resigned in fear. Others, however, remained and began to fight back. Among them was Walter Dushnyck, who edited both the Ukrainian-language newspaper Ukraine, and The Trident, an English-language journal. At a time when "Joe" Stalin was deified in the United States as a great "democrat" - and one risked being called a traitor for criticizing an American ally - Walter Dushnyck was writing scathing editorials and letters to various American newspapers, exposing Soviet intentions in Eastern Europe.
Another of my nationalist heroes was a young man named Roman Lapica. Mr. Lapica headed up the Ukrainian Press Bureau in New York City and was a frequent contributor to The Trident. When the Dies Committee, a congressional body established to investigate subversion, heard testimony alleging ODWU and UNA involvement with the Nazis, Messrs. Lapica and Dushnyck penned a 132-page affidavit rebutting all of the allegations and demanding an invitation to testify. No invitation came. Later, Mr. Lapica served as president of the Young Ukrainian Nationalists (MUN).
I often wondered what became of Roman Lapica after the war, and recently I found out. In 1939, then a reporter for United Press, he married Helen Sherban, a Ukrainian Canadian from Saskatchewan studying voice in New York City. In 1938 Helen, an accomplished musical performer, had co-starred in "Marusia," the first Ukrainian-language film made in the United States. Roman and Helen lived for a time in New York, where their two children, Ronnie Joy and Larry, were born.
In 1954 the Lapica family moved to California, where they established two radio stations, KACE-AM and FM, now KPRO-AM and KWDJ-FM. Roman, now Ray Lapica, went off to law school, graduating from the University of Southern California Law School in 1966. Ray never stopped writing, however. He has published poems and recently completed "Underground," a 1,135-page novel about the Ukrainian resistance movement. Helen, meanwhile, managed the radio stations with her sister Ollie Sherban. The two of them broadcast an award-winning daily radio program, "The Woman's Page," for 14 years. Over the years they interviewed celebrities such as George Burns, Dorothy Lamour, Maurice Chevalier and Pat Nixon.
Tragedy struck the Lapicas when Helen contracted cancer and died on March 9, 1989, a few months shy of their 50th wedding anniversary. Ray was devastated. "When you lose a loved one who's been your devoted companion and the most important person in your life for half a century, the light goes out," he recently wrote.
Unable to ever forget his beloved Helen, Ray established the Helen Sherban Lapica Education Fund. In 1994-1995, the fund awarded $30,000 to Ukrainian students working for higher degrees.
Recently, Ray Lapica published a tribute to Helen Lapica titled "She Lives in Our Hearts." Written in both Ukrainian and English, the publication contains Helen's biographical sketch, eulogies, poems, paintings, letters and musings. For me, the most soul-stirring writing was from Ray himself. On December 13, 1995, Helen's birthday, he penned "A Letter to an Angel." Among the many poignant comments in this lengthy letter were the following: "When you passed away, we struggled to find the words that captured your essence. Three things came to mind over and over and over again. They were your love of music, the bonds of home and family, and your spirit of adventure ... Now, six years later, I still can't comprehend it all, the meaning of your sweet life, how blessed I was to be given you for half a century, how I so frequently abused you, not physically or even verbally, but by ignoring you in preference to my personal activities: the law, golf, skiing, painting, the violin, reading, especially writing ... How I would like to take those moments back and spend them with you. How I miss you. How I want you back." The letter ended with a quotation from "Forest Song," a play by Lesia Ukrainka.
I never had the good fortune to meet Helen Lapica, nor Ray for that matter, but he will always remain a hero in my eyes. A courageous Ukrainian nationalist in his youth, a successful professional in a tough field of endeavor, a sportsman, an artist, writer and businessman. He is an American Renaissance man who never turned his back on his Ukrainian roots. Even today, he visits Ukraine, lectures at Ukrainian universities and helps Ukrainian students rise above the despair that currently grips many youth in Ukraine. Every student who receives a scholarship from the Helen Sherban Lapica Education Fund must sign a pledge consisting of 10 points. The last two points read: "I shall not lose hope, nor shall I sink into despondency, for that would be my worst enemy; I believe in the strength of Ukraine, in its rebirth and its bright future."
Ray Lapica's most significant accomplishment, however, is his success as a loving and devoted husband, father and family man. If he achieved nothing else in his productive life, that would stand as a monument to his manhood.
At a time when Ukrainian young men are looking for models to emulate, Ray Lapica stands head and shoulders above many, many others.
Myron Kuropas' e-mail address is: [email protected]
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, March 16, 1997, No. 11, Vol. LXV
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