Maria Koszman

Maria Nishchuk Koszman was born in the Ukraine in 1937. Her childhood was robbed from her by the turmoil of WWII, but in spite of the tragedies she saw she was able to develop a beautiful outlook on life that gave her the courage to create an amazing life and family. Maria immigrated to the United States in 1949 with her parents, Kapiton Nishchuk and Nadja Krawchuk Nishchuk and her brothers John and William. They settled in Baltimore, MD., where Maria attended Strayers Business School and studied shorthand and secretarial aspects of office management. . She loved to dance and in 1958 she won an Arthur Murray dance contest, with the prize being a paid trip to Cuba. While in Cuba she had dinner with Fidel Castro at the Tropicana Club in Havana and even went to a pool party at his house. In later years her energy and rhythm lead her to take Belly Dancing lessons and the finer art of Tai Chi. Maria met and married Ihor Koszman while he was doing his Doctoral at Johns Hopkins. They moved to Far Hills, New Jersey where Maria became good friends with the late Congresswoman Millicent Fenwick before moving to Basking Ridge, New Jersey where their 2 sons were born, Alex and Victor. In 1986 Maria and Ihor moved to Houston with Exxon, being too old to get a new job, but too young to retire. They both loved living in Walden and enjoyed everything Walden offered. She was a wonderful mother, full of life and saw the good in everyone she met. She was the ONLY person anyone had met that loved going to doctor appointments. She loved seeing the doctors and managed to turn a very unpleasant experience into a social visit. Again, her ability to see the good in all things enabled Maria to find joy in all that she did. Maria wanted to be where the “action” was, taking enjoyment in watching people and all activities of day to day life. She enjoyed cooking and listening to music, singing and playing the bandura, an Ukrainian folk instrument. Maria also loved animals and would visit wild life rescue centers to see them up close and personal. She was also deeply religious and regularly attended both the Ukrainian Eastern Orthodox and Ukrainian Catholic Churches as well as Walden Community Church. She volunteered for the festivals and activities that supported the churches she loved. Maria is preceded in death by her loving husband, Ihor Koszman and her son, Alex Koszman as well as her parents and brothers. She is survived by her son, Victor E. Koszman of Dallas, Texas.

Maria’s friend wrote in a Ukrainian newspaper:

"What can I say about Mariyka? She was my best friend, a good wife, loved life and loved her family...but everyone knows that. I want to picture Mariyka in a different light, as a doer, as someone who made a difference in our daily lives....

To her everyone was a friend. She spoke negatively of no one. That was her sunny personality. Optimism and “Nothing is Impossible “were her standards.

I met her in the late 1960's when our children attended the weekend Ukrainian school on the grounds of the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Bound Brook, NJ.

Mariyka and I befriended and joined the Sisterhood. It soon became clear she was a leader, her innovative ideas were daringly refreshing. The first thing she suggested was change the greetings of our Prelates/Primates during the main holidays by having children spread flower petals on the Archbishop's path to the church and also children with bouquets of flowers standing with the heads of Sisterhood and Brotherhood welcoming the Archbishop with the traditional bread and salt. It was a refreshing site.

With the blessing from Archbishop Mstyslav, Mariyka organized the first Bazaar on the Church grounds by getting on loan Ukrainian Ceramics to sell during - Provody- St. Thomas Sunday; a success which has now become a tradition.

The old church hall needed a facelift, with zest we went to work creating a fresh new look.

A permit was needed for the kitchen in the church's hall, the procedure was a two week process. Mariyka went to work and got the permit in one day.

Zabavas, holiday bazaars, intellectual evenings, a new group of bandurystky composed of young mothers, all of it was done to collect funds for the building of a new school.

Demonstrations in New York for human rights violations …....... Valentyn Moroz, Leonid Pliushch…..letter writing to US congressmen, senators, newspapers, to call attention to the plight of the political prisoner's situation in the soviet union.

She personally convinced United States Congresswoman Millicent Fenwick to visit the imprisoned Valentyn Moroz in the soviet union.

When our Ukrainian school building was flooded Mariyka organized a group of young mothers to do the clean-up the mud covered walls and furniture, transfer thousands of valuable books stored in its attic to the Archbishop Mstyslav's newly build office, paint and make ready the clean rooms to the children.

A permit was needed for the kitchen in the church's hall, the procedure was a two week process. Mariyka went to work and got the permit in one day.

All of these and much more became reality under Mariyka's charming personality and leadership

After Mariyka moved to Texas, the Bound Brook's renaissance slowed down.

Her birthday was on April 4 ,1937 and she passed the next day on April 5. 2015"