OBITUARIES (03/08/98)

OBITUARIES

William Boytchuk, 75, Toronto city councilman

by Andrij Kudla Wynnyckyj
Toronto Press Bureau

TORONTO - William (Vasyl) Boytchuk, a long-serving Toronto municipal politician and community activist died on January 22 at his winter home in Hallandale, Fla. He was 75.

Mr. Boytchuk was born in the village of Dzhuriv, Sniatyn county in Galicia, on April 27, 1922, later emigrating and settling in Munich, Germany. He studied at the Ludwig Maximilien University in the Bavarian city, graduating with a degree in chemistry.

Soon after his arrival in Canada in 1948, Mr. Boytchuk became a co-founder of the Ukrainian Youth Association (SUM) center in Toronto, and a co-founder of the Ukraina Sports Association.

Employed first as a pharmaceutical chemist, then as a real estate broker, Mr. Boytchuk was first elected in 1969 to Toronto's city council as the alderman for Ward 1, the West End district heavily populated by Ukrainians. Except for a two-year period in 1976-1978, his hold on this office was uninterrupted until his retirement in 1994.

In addition to serving at one time as chairperson of every standing committee in the city council, Mr. Boytchuk also headed Toronto's grants review board for 12 years and served on the recently abolished Metro Council.

A "pro-development" councillor, he played a central role in establishing the Bloor West Village Business Improvement Area in 1970. According to the Toronto Star, this initiative "eventually transformed the sleepy strip of shops into one of Toronto's trendiest shopping and dining districts."

Chris Korwin-Kuczynski, a colleague on the council for 13 years, told Toronto's Globe and Mail, "When you look at the downtown development and everything else and the city getting a name for itself as a strong municipality across the country, Bill Boytchuk made a contribution to that."

Councillor Tom Jakobek, a eulogist at Mr. Boytchuk's funeral, told the Toronto Star: "In many ways he epitomized the city. He immigrated to Canada and he was proud of is Ukrainian heritage, and in [the sense that] this city [was] built on immigrants, he rose to a very senior position on city council."

Mr. Boytchuk's anti-Soviet political views were also frequently in evidence during his tenure. He assisted in the erection of a monument to the victims of the massacres in Katyn Forest that stands in Toronto's Parkdale district.

After a clash between police and protesters upon Soviet Premier Aleksei Kosygin's arrival at Toronto's International Airport in October 1971, Mr. Boytchuk defended the protesters against assault charges and helped to secure an apology from police for their brutality during the incident.

Throughout his career, Mr. Boytchuk was a ubiquitous presence at all Ukrainian demonstrations and community functions. He helped locate the monument to writer Lesia Ukrainka in Toronto's High Park. In 1990 he successfully lobbied for the twinning of Toronto and Kyiv as sister cities. Two years later, he was in Ukraine's capital as Toronto's representative to the World Forum of Ukrainians.

Mr. Boytchuk is survived by his second wife, Tania; brother, Stephan; sons, Ihor, Taras and Yarko; daughter, Sylvia Kowal; and 10 grandchildren. Funeral services were held at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church on January 28.

Mary Walchonski, Basilian benefactor and businesswoman

FOX CHASE MANOR, Pa. - Mary Walchonski, of Fox Chase Manor, Pa. (formerly of Hamburg and Centralia, Pa.) died on February 16. She was 88 years old.

Born in Tuhulka, Ukraine, Mrs. Wolchanski was the daughter of Basil and Kalyna Hrabarovich. She came to the U.S. in 1919, to Centralia, Pa., where she married Charles Wolchanski. An accomplished businesswoman, she and her husband opened a cafe-restaurant in Centralia, Pa., in 1948. After her husband's death in 1961, she continued to operate the business alone until 1985, when she relocated to Hamburg, Pa. to be closer to her daughter Anna.

In 1993, after her daughter Anna's death Mrs. Walchonski relocated to Fox Chase manor, Pa., to live with her daughter, Sister Marie Francis OSBM, dean of students at Manor Junior College. Mrs. Wolchanski was an outstanding supporter of the Sisters of St. Basil the Great, contributing generously to the Sisters' Basilian Chapel/Spirituality Center.

A deeply spiritual woman she cherished her Ukrainian Catholic Church, heritage, culture and traditions. These rich traditional values are evident in the beautiful Ukrainian embroidery and pysanky for which Mrs. Wolchanski was so well known.

She was a parishioner of the Assumption Blessed Virgin Mary Church, Centralia, Pa., and is survived by her daughter Sister Marie Francis. In lieu of flowers, Sister Marie Francis asks that donations be made in her mother's memory to the Sisters of St. Basil the Great Chapel/Spirituality Center or to the Manor Junior College Mary Wolchanski Scholarship Fund.