Nadia U. Haftkowycz

Born October 30, 1935 in Lviv, Ukraine to the late Volodymyr and Olha Haftkowycz, the youngest of three sisters (the second of whom, Vera, died at a young age). As a young girl, Nadia and her sister Oksana were forced to flee Ukraine in 1939 and again in 1944 with their parents because at the time their father was a political activist and educational reformer being pursued by the Soviet Secret Police for deportation to Siberia or execution.

As refugees, the Haftkowycz family settled for several years in a Displaced Persons Camp in Mittenwald, Germany in 1945 where young Nadia became active in the Ukrainian Scouting Organization PLAST. The family emigrated to the United States in 1949, first settling in Chicopee Falls, MA and eventually moving to Hartford, CT in 1952. Nadia graduated from Bulkeley High School and worked for the Travelers Insurance Company. In time, she obtained her B.A. and Master’s Degree in Psychology at St. Joseph’s College (now University of St. Joseph) in West Hartford. For decades, she worked as a school psychologist in the Hartford Public School System, mostly at Arsenault School in Hartford’s North End.

An intrepid hiker and traveler in her younger years, she led expeditions to the Adirondack Mountains with her girl scout troop, and she traveled with close friends to Morocco, Greece, Italy, Hawaii, the Grand Canyon, and Victoria, British Columbia.

Throughout her life, she maintained close ties with the Ukrainian diaspora community and stayed in contact with her relatives in Ukraine. In 1973, she was the first member of her family to return to Ukraine, where she visited her relatives, some of whom had returned from lengthy prison terms in the Soviet Gulag. She supported her cousins and nieces and nephews there as best she could – both financially and spiritually.

Nadia remained very active in the PLAST Ukrainian Scouting Organization, as a counselor and activist at the Bobriwka Campground in North Colebrook, CT and the Vovcha Tropa Campsite in East Chatham, New York. Nadia was an active parishioner at St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hartford where she sang in the church choir well into her ‘80s. In 1987 she performed with a combined choir of 100 singers at a special Liturgy at the Cathedral of St. Joseph celebrating the Millennium (1,000 year anniversary) of Ukraine’s conversion to Christianity. In 1999, Nadia joined the Hartford-based Yevshan Ukrainian Vocal Ensemble and performed on numerous recordings and concerts of Ukrainian classical, liturgical and folk music in Hartford, Boston, New York, Philadelphia, and Washington, DC.

In the late 1990s, Nadia served as the President of the Hartford Chapter of the Children of Chornobyl Relief Fund, responding to the long-term health effects of the 1986 nuclear disaster in Ukraine. Under her leadership, the Hartford Chapter was recognized as the Chapter of the Year by the national organization for its many innovative projects. In addition to the Chapter’s success in raising funds for neonatal intensive care units and children’s cancer programs in Kyiv, Odessa and Lviv, Nadia was able to persuade the National Board of CCRF to launch a new campaign to improve conditions at Ukrainian orphanages for children with severe disabilities. This campaign is still ongoing, and it helped to achieve significant reforms in Ukraine's child welfare and foster care system.

Nadia was always passionately devoted to the cause of Ukraine’s freedom and human rights. She was also a proud member of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America (UNWLA) (Chapter 106), helping to organize many charitable fundraisers. She was also a generous contributor to her church, the Ukrainian Catholic University, St. Jude’s Children’s Medical Center, the Ukrainian Museum of New York City and Special Olympics of Connecticut. In all her charitable activities, she served with remarkable humility, determination and thoughtfulness.

Throughout her life, Nadia was deeply devoted to her family, especially her mother Olha Haftkowycz, for whom she cared for many years during a long illness before her passing in 1993, and later cared for her sister Oksana and her brother-in-law Orest Kuzma. She was an ever-ready babysitter for her nieces and nephew and later for their children.

Her family is deeply grateful for the abiding love of her many close friends, and for the excellent care she received at Mulberry Gardens of Plantsville (Southington). She lived in a spirit of abiding gratitude for the love of family and friends, and with a deep appreciation for great music and art, and for the cultural riches of many nations. Although she was unable to enjoy the Great Outdoors in her later years, she was always a humble admirer of the splendor of God’s Grace and God’s Creation. In her last months, she often commented that the most important things for her were family, prayer, and music. She sang with her family until her last days.

Nadia was predeceased by her sister Oksana Kuzma and her husband Orest Kuzma of Wethersfield, CT. She is survived by her nephew Alexander Kuzma and his wife Irene Kytasty Kuzma, their daughters Alina, Teryn and Maya, formerly of Glastonbury, CT; her niece Daria (Kuzma) Juergensen and her husband Peter Juergensen of Cheshire, their daughter Anneliese Juergensen of New Haven, and their son Dr. Stephan Juergensen and his wife Rose Errington of Brooklyn; her niece Dr. Marika Kuzma of Madison, CT; her cousin Irene (Sawojko) Krasij and her husband Myron Krasij of Avon, CT, and their son Jeremy Krasij and his wife Kelly of Pennsylvania; her cousin Borys Krupa and his wife Claire Loiselle of Unionville, CT; her cousin Motria (Krupa) Koropeckyj of Victoria, BC; Lesia Sawojko of Chicago, IL; and Andriy Haftkowycz of Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine.

Friends and family may call on the Haftkowycz/Kuzma family at the D’Esopo Funeral Chapel at 277 Folly Brook Road in Wethersfield, CT from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Sunday, June 30th. A brief traditional memorial service (Panakhyda) will be held at 5:45.

A funeral liturgy will be held at 10 a.m. on Monday, July 1st at St. Michael’s Ukrainian Catholic Church at 135 Wethersfield Avenue in Hartford.

Charitable gifts in lieu of flowers may be made to the Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation, 2247 West Chicago Avenue, Chicago, IL. 60622 or to the Ukrainian National Women’s League, 203 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10003.

For online expressions of sympathy to the family, please visit www.desopofuneralchapel.com