- Date Of Birth: March 10, 1926
- Date Of Death: October 12, 2017
- State: Indiana
Yaroslava Jerry Woloch passed to eternal life early Thursday, October 12, 2017. Loving mother to: Mary (Howard) Vaughn, Anthony (Lola) Woloch, Joseph (Debra) Woloch, and John Woloch; cherished grandmother to: Katherine (Joel) Wentworth, Howard (Rachel) Vaughn, Gregory (Marinna) Vaughn, and Natalie (John) Lackhouse; and beloved great-grandmother to: Nelson, Corbin, Anastasia and Mikhailo Wentworth, Rebecca Vaughn, Lyla Vaughn, and Cecilia Lackhouse. Dearly missed by only sister Mary March, sister-in-law Natalie Wilk, nieces Nadya March, Mary Jean March, Ann March, Carol Wilk, and Mary Jane Wilk, nephew Michael Wilk, their families and many other cousins and relatives and friends. Preceded in death by her husband of 63 years, Anthony Joseph Woloch – his funeral on October 12, 2013 was exactly four years previous to the day of Yaroslava’s passing.
Yaroslava was born March 10, 1926 in Holohirky, Lviv Oblast, Ukraine (then under Poland) to Theodore and Anastasia (nee Lisna) Bass. Her father came to Canada just before the start of the Depression, making it impossible for the family to join him as planned. Years later as war threatened, her uncle traded places in pending visas. He said it would be hard for a woman alone with two young daughters if war came. The family were reunited again in Winnipeg, Manitoba in spring 1937. Yaroslava at school was nicknamed “Jarry” (later Jerry) from the Polish Jaroslava. Jerry and her sister Mary sang in Ukrainian women’s choirs, the Oleksander Koshetz Choir, and did solos and duets. After one particular concert, Anthony Woloch, a private in the Royal Canadian Air Force stationed north of Winnipeg, asked to be introduced to “that pretty girl.” Quickly smitten, whenever he was on leave, Tony hitchhiked to visit Jerry, helped her with algebra (since he had started engineering college) and even painted her fingernails. Near the end of WWII, Tony proposed but she thought she was too young and wanted go to Anderson Business College and work. Years later, Jerry told her mother “Tony was the nicest guy I ever dated.” She wrote to his parents’ address in Windsor Ontario, not knowing, after college, Tony had moved to Akron, Ohio for a job. Home on holiday, he read her letter and asked his mother Mary what to do. She said if he could forget her earlier rejection, he should write her, which he did, and they started corresponding. In 1950 while on a trip to a New York Ukrainian Youth Conference, Jerry visited Tony in Akron. By May 1950 they were engaged. They wed September 30, 1950 at St. Vladimir & Olga Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral in Winnipeg. Jerry left her secretarial career at Building Products Ltd. behind to be a wife first in Akron, Ohio where daughter Mary was born in 1951, then their first house in Barberton, Ohio where son Anthony was born in 1954. Mother and baby were featured in the newspaper as they were moved from the old hospital to the brand new one just days after birth. By 1955, the family moved temporarily to Windsor, Ontario until their new home in Redford Township, Michigan was finished, where son Joseph was born in 1956. Jerry studied hard for her U.S. citizenship test and was naturalized April 23, 1959. Youngest and third son John was born in 1962. In 1967, Gulf Oil transferred them to Urbandale, Iowa. In Iowa, her daughter married and her first grandchild Katherine was born (1972). Jerry had returned to office work at Ardans Jewelers in Des Moines, Iowa until the end of 1973, when another transfer had them looking for a home in Chicagoland. They heard of a Ukrainian Catholic church in Munster. At St. Josaphat Church, they were surprised the priest was Rev. Walter Wozniak, whom they had met in Omaha Nebraska when the family occasionally attended church there. That “sealed the deal,” and Jerry and Tony became long-time parishioners at St. Josaphat and residents of Munster. While her boys were still in college, Jerry returned again to office work for a while at Chemical Haulers in Hammond. Jerry and Tony saw all their children graduate from college, and welcomed three new grandchildren Howard (1977), Gregory (1981) and Natalie (1983). Always an active church member, Jerry was in the Ukrainian Women’s League, the Ukrainian National Association, and the church choir and women’s group, a women’s choir and nearly to the end always sang at liturgies. The couple were part of the pyrohy team at St. Josaphat for many years. Together they celebrated at the marriages of sons Tony and Joe, and of grandchildren Katherine, Howard and Natalie, and welcomed the first four great-grandchildren Nelson (2002), Corbin (2004), Anastasia (2005) and Mikhailo (2010) Wentworth. Tragically in September 2013, first Jerry suffered a stroke then Tony broke his leg. On their 63rd wedding anniversary, they met for a few minutes at the hospital to hold hands before Jerry was moved to another floor. Although Tony had successful surgery for the broken bone, heart complications led to his death October 7, 2013. Jerry was seriously ill herself and blessedly never fully felt the loss of her life-long love. Although needing increasing care in her last years, Jerry did attend her son John’s MBA graduation and grandson Gregory’s wedding. She met and loved three more great-grandchildren, Rebecca Vaughn in 2014, Lyla Vaughn in 2015, and Cecilia Lackhouse in 2017. Even in her debilitated state she loved her children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren. A day before her death, granddaughter Natalie visited with little Cecilia, and she reached out to kiss the baby. That day she also was with son Joe and daughter-in-law Debbie, and daughter Mary. Earlier son John travelled from Fort Wayne so she could attend Sunday Liturgy in memory of four years since Tony’s death. Our mother / Baba (grandmother) / PraBaba (great-grandmother) was gentle and loving, relying on God and her faith, and was outgoing and supportive to those in need. Possessing a beautiful voice, she loved singing and music. Everyone enjoyed her holubsti (stuffed cabbage), lemon poke cake, honey cake, apple cake, and walnut crescents. Always outside, she said she’d rather be weeding than washing dishes and loved frogs and toads which were the poor “toys” of her childhood. Daughter of a tailor and seamstress, she appreciated well-made clothes, but also loved bargains. With her husband, she attended Ukrainian events, made many trips to the Ukrainian Festival in Dauphin Manitoba, and in 1992 they travelled to her birthplace Ukraine. Many thanks to the caring staff at Residences at Deer Creek who created a pleasant place to live for her last two years, and Unity Hospice who attended to her last needs. She will be dearly missed by her beloved only sister Mary March and cherished sister-in-law and close friend Natalie Wilk, and her family of four children, four grandchildren, seven great-grandchildren, and other family from nieces and nephew to cousins and extended family and friends.
