Irene Sapun

Irene was born January 1, 1930, in the small village of Warszawka near Brody, Poland. There

she enjoyed a happy childhood with her parents and three sisters until the early morning of

February 10, 1940, when Russian soldiers came to their home and forcibly deported the family to

Soviet labor camps near Arkhangelsk in Siberia, Russia.

For the next ten years Irene lived as a Polish refugee. After being granted amnesty in 1942, she

journeyed from Siberia across the Caspian Sea to the port of Pahlavi, Iran. She spent several

years in an orphanage run by Polish nuns in Isfahan, later traveling to Beirut, Lebanon, and

eventually to a boarding school in the English countryside outside London, where she completed

her academic studies. Remarkably, despite years of displacement and hardship, she finished her

high school education and became proficient in several languages, with Latin being her favorite.

On May 13, 1950, she finally arrived in the United States and was miraculously reunited with her

mother and three sisters.

Irene’s life blossomed on American soil when she met Gregory Sapun, a Polish soldier returning

from the war. They were married October 17, 1953, in Newark, New Jersey. In 1956 they

welcomed their only child, Diana. Through Diana’s marriage to James Malcolm, Irene gained a

beloved son-in-law and three grandchildren: James Gregory, Jennifer, and John.

James is married to Kristin Meagher Malcolm and lives in Decatur, Georgia with their four

children—Aurora, Derek, Elowyn, and Liadan. Jennifer lives and works in London, England.

John is married to Sherry Cosby Malcolm and resides in Smyrna, Georgia with their little dog

Daisy, whose visits Irene especially enjoyed.

In addition to her immediate family, Irene is survived by her cousin Longin Greszczuk of

Mission Viejo, California, who was with her on that fateful February night in 1940. She was

preceded in death by her former husband Gregory, her parents, and her three sisters.

Irene’s life was a remarkable testament to resilience, survival, and deep faith. Her Catholic faith

was her bedrock and grew ever stronger through the hardships of her early years. She often

shared stories of moments when her life seemed spared by circumstances she attributed to God’s

gracious hand. She lived with kindness and generosity and will be dearly missed by all who

knew and loved her.