Annual party in Los Alamos celebrates Ukrainian heritage
by Anna Chopek
LOS ALAMOS, N.M. - A gathering of about 30 Ukrainians came for their annual party here in the high mountains of Los Alamos, N.M., on October 1. The party took place on the patio of Stephanie Chopek Sydoriak's home. The menu of borsch, paska, pyrohy, holubtsi, kovbasa, and xhrin has been the common bond in bringing this group together since 1978.
Few of the attendees have both parents of Ukrainian origin. Most had either one Ukrainian parent, or perhaps a Ukrainian grandmother or grandfather, but they all remember the good Ukrainian food of their youth.
They enjoy the sight of the costumes that some of the guests wear, and the videos on Ukrainian subjects that have been shown over the years. Displays have included Easter eggs, embroidery and copies of The Ukrainian Weekly and the Svoboda.
Los Alamos, a scenic mountain town built around the National Scientific Laboratory, is a small one, home to only 18,000 people. However, it has more Ph.D.'s per capita than any other town in the United States.
When this writer's brother-in-law and sister, Dr. Stephen Sydoriak, and his wife, Stephanie, came here in 1948, they found only one other person of Ukrainian origin: Mary Jane Drozdiak.
Over the years other Ukrainians came into the town, among them, me and our mother from Boston, and soon afterwards, Steve's sister, Helene Sydoriak Haire.
Soon a core group, including Dr. Ihor and Ulana Bohachevski, Dr. Peter Gary (Garanovich), Dr. Walter Lysenko, Dr. John Bzdil and Gloria (Evanitski) Sharp and Eugene Kovalenko, was formed and the annual party got under way.
The search continued for other Ukrainians, with the phone book as an important tool. For example, when I saw the name Lissoway, I called and asked him the gentleman if he was Ukrainian. I thought it sounded like a Ukrainian word for forester or someone who worked in the woods. He said yes, his father was Ukrainian, he worked with the Park Service and did indeed work in the woods.
Others were found in a variety ways. Some called because of the annual Ukrainian Easter egg (pysanka) classes at the senior center taught by my sister and me, and my niece, Katherin Lawrence. Others came to the Ukrainian Easter blessing of the baskets that Stephanie and I had initiated at the local Catholic Church.
The most unlikely find of all was Doug MacDonald, the fire chief in Los Alamos. I met him at a county meeting and, as people do in Los Alamos, I asked him where he came from before he came here. Western Canada, he answered. I said there were lots of Ukrainians there, and asked if he knew any. He said his mother was Ukrainian, and they had lived in his grandmother's house. He had done Ukrainian dancing in his youth, and enjoyed his grandmother's cooking, especially pyrohy. He was very happy to join our group. He helps me boil the pyrohy every year.
Ukrainians, like Andrew Rakoczi, came 40 miles from Santa Fe, while others like Dr. Dmytro Bodnarczuk and Drs. Stephen and Theodore Mackiw came from Albuquerque, which is about 100 miles away.
Though small in number, this little Ukrainian outpost in northern New Mexico continues to celebrate its rich and colorful heritage.
Copyright © The Ukrainian Weekly, December 24, 2006, No. 52, Vol. LXXIV
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