Biljana Nikolich Monsky

Bibi is preceded in death by her husband of 33 years, Jeffrey Neil Monsky, her parents, Jezdimir and Branislava Nikolic and a brother, Zivorad Nikolic. Biljana is survived by her children, Paul Monsky (Megan) and Hollie Zager (Jay), grandchildren are Max and Emily Zager and Maclain and Jeffrey Monsky.

Biljana, known to all as Bibi, was born March 16, 1940, in Sarajevo, Kingdom of Yugoslavia, where her father, an officer in the King’s army, was stationed. After Germany declared war on Yugoslavia in 1941, Bibi’s mother was forced to return to her hometown of Kragujevac with her children. Bibi spent the next few years living under German occupation.

The end of World War II, also meant the end of the Kingdom and the transfer of power in Yugoslavia to a new communist government. Bibi and her friends and extended family had no choice but to band together, helping each other through hard and lean times, and they all became fiercely loyal to each other, a loyalty and love that she carried with her for her mother, brother, aunts, uncles, cousins, and childhood friends until the moment that she died.

Bibi’s chance for a better life came at the age of 13 when she and her mother were finally allowed by the communist government to emigrate to Germany where her father had remained after being taken prisoner during the war,and blossomed after the family was allowed to resettle to the United States as displaced persons in 1957.

Settling in Gary, Indiana, Bibi became a student at Emerson High School and her natural intelligence and strong work ethic earned her admission into Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana just a few years later. While in Bloomington, Bibi met the love of her life, Jeffrey, a fellow student, and they married just before her graduation in 1961. Jeffrey convinced Bibi’s father and mother to follow them to Louisville, Kentucky after graduation so Bibi could remain close to her family. In Louisville, Bibi was surrounded by love and affection from Jeff’s family and through her mother-in-law, Millie, who she immediately adored, she developed a love for dance, attending the Kentucky Dance Institute regularly every summer for the rest of her life and dancing her way around the world.

Blissfully surrounded by family around her, Bibi and Jeff soon added to the family themselves. Her son, Paul, was born in 1965, and her daughter, Hollie, in 1967. Bibi proved to be a wonderful mother who assured that her children had everything that they needed without feeling entitled to anything that they wanted.

Once she had prepared her children for elementary school, Bibi returned to school herself and ultimately earned a Master’s Degree from the University of Louisville in Community Development. At this time, she also joined the Louisville Urban Volunteers and volunteered for the fledgling Sister Cities International program which began an endless history of sponsoring students and others from all over the world in her home for the rest of her life.

Bibi’s connections to city government through her volunteer activities, and her gift for always making friends and never making enemies, soon resulted in a full-time position in Louisville’s Economic Development office.

Bibi’s cup runneth over, but in every life there are moments of loss. For Bibi, the loss of family and friends hurt her deeply. She mourned her father-in-law, father, mother-in-law, aunts, cousins, friends, and, then, her brother, Zivorad, who had always been a part of her life. Most devastating was Jeff’s death in January 1994. She never remarried and found great comfort in her community at St. Michael Church and in her Orthodox Christian religion which also helped her through the subsequent loss of her mother. She became a fixture on Sundays at St. Michael and, when she later lived in Florida for a portion of the year to be close to Hollie and her grandchildren there, she regularly attended St. Philip Antiochian Orthodox Church and St. Simeon Serbian Orthodox Cathedral.

Bibi retired as the Director of Louisville’s Economic Development Office and spent the next decades traveling around the country and the world, usually to visit with friends she had made throughout her life. For all her fantastic qualities, Bibi’s true superpower was that she genuinely cared about people. Every person she met was soon a forever friend, and their children a surrogate child or grandchild. Her door and her heart were open. There was always room for more love. Loyalty, caring, and giving marked her existence and she will long survive in the fond memories of all who met her.

A visitation will be held on Friday, October 24, 2025 from 3 - 7 PM with a Trisagion service starting at 7 PM at St. Michael Orthodox Church. 3701 St. Michael Church Dr. Louisville KY 40218. A funeral service will take place at 10:00 am on Saturday, October 25, 2025 at church with interment to follow at Resthaven Memorial Park Cemetery. 4400 Bardstown Rd. Louisville, KY 40218.

In Lieu of flowers, donations may be made to St. Michael Orthodox Church.