OBITUARY: Lidia Burachynska, 97, ethnographer, activist in Ukrainian women's movement (02/21/99)

OBITUARY

Lidia Burachynska, 97, ethnographer, activist in Ukrainian women's movement

PHILADELPHIA - Lidia Burachynska, journalist, ethnographer and activist in the Ukrainian women's movement, died here on January 29 at the age of 97.

Mrs. Burachynska was born on December 28, 1902, in Ivano-Frankivsk Oblast, Ukraine, the daughter of Erast Burachynsky and Olena Lopatynska. She studied economics in Prague and edited the magazine Nova Khata in Lviv from 1930 to 1939. In 1934 she married Stepan Rudyk, who disappeared during the war years; their only son, Vasyl, died after a short illness.

During the second world war Mrs. Burachynska worked with the Ukrainian Central Committee in Krakow. Subsequently she moved to Austria and then emigrated to the U.S. in 1949.

Upon settling in Philadelphia, Mrs. Burachynska taught at St. Basil's Academy, run by the Ukrainian Sisters of St. Basil the Great. She joined the Olena Teliha Branch 20 of the Ukrainian National Women's League of America (UNWLA), of which she was a long-time member.

Mrs. Burachynska served as president of the UNWLA (1971-1974) and earlier as its vice-president, and as president of the World Federation of Ukrainian Women's Organizations (WFUWO) in 1977-1982.

She was editor of the UNWLA's magazine, Our Life, from 1951 to 1972. Her articles and studies on ethnography appeared in journals, as well as in the collection "Bukovyna: Ii Mynule i Suchasne" (Bukovyna: Its Past and Present) published in 1956. She also contributed entries on folk art to the Encyclopedia of Ukraine and "Ukrainian Folk Costume" (1992), a publication of the WFUWO Ukrainian Folk Arts Committee, with Natalia Danylenko serving as publication administrator.

Mrs. Burachynska also was co-editor of the magazine Hutsulshchyna and a member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society.

The title of honorary president, the highest award accorded by the UNWLA and the WFUWO, was conferred on Mrs. Burachynska by both organizations for her contribution to Ukrainian women's organizations.

Memorial services for Mrs. Burachynska were held February 5, with Bishop Walter Paska, the Rev. Dr. Andrij Onuferko and Msgr. John Bilanych officiating. Funeral services were held February 6 at St. Michael the Archangel Ukrainian Catholic Church, followed by interment at St. Mary Ukrainian Catholic Cemetery in Jenkintown, Pa.

A memorial scholarship fund has been established in memory of Mrs. Burachynska within the UNWLA Scholarship Program from which scholarships will be awarded to students of Ukrainian folk art in Ukraine. In lieu of flowers, tax-deductible donations may be sent to: UNWLA Inc. Scholarship Fund, Lidia Burachynska Memorial Fund, P.O. Box 24, Matawan, NJ 07747.

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