- Date Of Birth: September 29, 1921
- Date Of Death: December 9, 2007
- State: Arizona
Ludmilla “Lucy” Wyckoff passed away peacefully in her home in Flagstaff on December 9, 2007, with loving friends and family by her side.
A resident of Flagstaff for 40 years, Lucy gave to her community in many unselfish ways. She was active in her church, Episcopal Church of the Epiphany, singing in the choir and in the order of the Daughters of the King. Over her community service career, she was a tireless leader as President of NAU faculty wives, President of her PEO chapter, and President of the Inner Wheel Chapter, Rotary Club International. She received the Soroptimist International of Flagstaff award in 1993 as a “Woman of Distinction”. Another organization she was active in was the Assistance League of Flagstaff.
Lucy graduated from UCLA and obtained her Master’s Degree from NAU in 1980. She worked part-time as an elementary school teacher and later on taught Russian at NAU.
Lucy was born Ludmilla Sergei Dmitrieff on September 29, 1921, in Harbin, China. Her father was an accountant for the Transiberian Railroad and moved his family to Harbin from Moscow, Russia in 1904. Harbin had a thriving Russian community in those days, and the family stayed for 20 years before immigrating to the United States in 1924. The family lived first in San Francisco, eventually settling in Los Angeles where Lucy attended Hollywood High School. Lucy and Ted met at UCLA and were married on April 22, 1945. They spent the next 30 years traveling with the US Army to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, Weinheim and Bonn, Germany (2 tours of duty), Fort Sill, OK, Washington DC, Princeton, NJ, Tempe, AZ, and Monterey, CA. Fluent in English, Spanish, Portuguese, German, French, and of course, Russian, Lucy was well known wherever she lived as a marvelous cook and gracious hostess.
Lucy had a lifelong passion for learning and adventure, traveling constantly when she was both married and widowed. Lucy slogged through the jungles of Costa Rica when she was 53, hiked to Phantom Ranch and braved the Colorado River rapids when she was 55, became a Dancing Granny when she was 72, taught Russian at NAU when she was 68, climbed Mount Vesuvius in Pompeii, Italy when she was 81. She survived the loss of a half lung to cancer (but was not a smoker) when she was 60 and had a mastectomy when she was 81. Lucy Wyckoff died from complications of Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS, or Lou Gehrig’s disease) which was just diagnosed in late October 2007.
Flagstaff became a mecca during Gorbachev’s détente for Siberian river runners who came to navigate the Colorado River in the Grand Canyon on exchange programs. Lucy was one of the very few fluent, native Russian language speakers in Flagstaff and she and Ted opened their home to homesick Russians. Many of these Russian families have since settled in Flagstaff and became very good friends of the Wyckoff family.
Lucy is survived by her two daughters and sons-in-law, Ann and Lou Lancero of Tucson, AZ, and Barbara and Peter Siris of New York City, NY. Lucy was preceded in death by her husband, Theodore “Ted” in 1993, and her daughter Cathy in 1985. Lucy has four grandchildren, Marcy Brouwer of Lake Tahoe, CA, Katya Lancero of Tucson, AZ, Alexander Siris and Tracy Siris of New York NY, and one great-grandson, Kole Brouwer.
