June 21, 2019

UNA CELEBRATES 125 YEARS: Snapshots from history, 1985

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Natalie Sluzar, and archives of Svoboda and The Ukrainian Weekly

UNA Supreme President John O. Flis speaks at the reception. To his left is UNA Supreme Secretary Walter Sochan.

Nearly 400 congressmen, administration officials, members of the Ukrainian National Association and its Supreme Assembly, as well as local Ukrainian community activists on May 22, 1985, attended a reception at the Russell Senate Office Building celebrating the centennial of Ukrainian settlement in the United States. The reception was sponsored by the Ukrainian National Association in cooperation with the Ukrainian American Caucus (UAC), The Washington Group, the Ukrainian Association of the Washington Metropolitan Area and the local chapter of the Ukrainian National Women’s League of America.

On the receiving line composed of UNA executive officers and a representative of the UAC were: Supreme President John O. Flis, Supreme Vice-President Myron B. Kuropas, Supreme Vice-Presidentess Gloria Paschen, Supreme Secretary Walter Sochan, Supreme Treasurer Ulana Diachuk and Supreme Organizer Stefan Hawrysz, as well as Robert McConnell of the UAC. Also present were members of the UNA Supreme Assembly, who arrived by bus from Soyuzivka, where they were meeting at their annual session.

Sen. Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn., center) with Robert and Nadia McConnell of the Ukrainian American Caucus.

In attendance were members of Congress, staffers, representatives of the Reagan administration and the National Science Foundation. Among those attending was State Department Counselor Edward Derwinski, a former congressman from Illinois. The senators in attendance included: Bill Bradley (D-N.J.), Rudy Boschwitz (R-Minn.), Lawlon Chiles (D-Fla.), Dennis DeConcini (D-Ariz.), Jesse Helms (R-N.C), Frank R. Lautenberg (D-N.J.). Paul Laxalt (R-Nev.), Charles McC. Mathias Jr. (R-Md.), Spark M. Matsunaga (D-Hawaii), Paul S. Sarbanes (D-Md.), Paul Simon (D-Ill.) and Edward Zorinsky (D-Neb.).

Rep. Benjamin Gilman (D-N.Y., second from right) with New York state residents George Sierant, Mary Dushnyck and Walter Kwas.

Among the members of the House of Representatives present were: Robert A. Borski (D-Pa.), Frederick C. Boucher (D-Va.), Rod Chandler (R-Wash.), Fred J. Eckert (R-N.Y.), Edward F. Feighan (D-Ohio), Hamilton Fish Jr. (R-N.Y.), James J. Florio (D-N.J.), Benjamin A. Gilman (R-N.Y.), Bill Green (R-N.Y.), Paul E. Kanjorski (D-Pa.), Jim Kolbe (R-Ariz), John J. LaFalce (D-N.Y.), Thomas J. Manton (D-N.Y.), Alfred A. McCandless (R-Calif.), Dan Mica (D-Fla.), Bruce A. Morrison (D-Conn.), Samuel S. Stratton (D-N.Y.), Bruce F. Venton (D-Minn.), George C. Wortley (R-N.Y.) and Nick Rahall (D-W. Va.).

The congressional sponsors of the reception were: Sens. Robert Dole (R-Kans.), the majority leader, Robert Byrd (D-Va.), the minority leader, Peter Domenici (R-N.M.), Ernest Hollings (D-S.C), Bradley and Helms; as well as Reps. Thomas P. O’Neill (D-Mass.), the speaker of the House, Robert Michel (R-III.), the minority leader, Dante Fascell (D-Fla.), Don Ritter (R-Pa.), Fernand St. Germain (D-R.I.), Mary Rose Oakar (D-Ohio), Gerald Solomon (R-N.Y.), Florio and Gilman.

Sen. Charles McC. Mathias Jr. (R-Md., right) with UNA Supreme Vice-Presidentess Gloria Paschen and UNA Supreme Vice-President Myron B. Kuropas.

The atmosphere of the reception was that of an informal get-together with much mingling, hand-shaking and conversation. There were no speeches, only concluding remarks by UNA President Flis, who expressed the Ukrainian community’s appreciation to members of Congress for their support of Ukrainian causes and issues of concern to the Ukrainian community – especially for those measures benefitting “our brethren in Ukraine, who do not enjoy the same freedoms as we in the United States do.”

 

A photo archive of UNA history has been launched on the UNA website. It is a work in progress that will be expanded and refined. To take a look, go to unainc.org/una/the-una-is-125-years-old/.


Mystery bowler identified

Thanks to Olga Karmazyn, the unidentified bowler in the UNA “Snapshot from history” of June 2 has been identified. He is Andrew Rusinko of UNA Branch 120 of Aliquippa, Pa. Ms. Karmazyn was responding to our request to help ID the one person in the photo from 1966 who was not named. The photograph was from the first UNA national bowling tournament held on April 29-30 1966, in Aliquippa. The name has now been inserted into the caption information of our online edition and on the UNA’s Facebook page. Thank you to this loyal reader!

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