May 29, 2020

Remembering Helen Smindak

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Earlier this month, we learned the very sad news that Helen Smindak, a longtime columnist and feature writer for The Ukrainian Weekly, had passed away at the age of 91. Tragically, she was one of this country’s 100,000 fatalities due to the novel coronavirus. This exemplary journalist was well-known and greatly loved by Ukrainian community members throughout North America. Her wonderful writing graced the pages of this newspaper for decades. And that’s no exaggeration.

Arts and culture were her beat, and Ms. Smindak must have worn out countless pairs of shoes covering all sorts of events in New York City and then, in the early days, delivering her typed up copy in person to the offices of our newspaper, then located in Jersey City, N.J. Her fans were many, and we have some of the fan mail sent in reaction to her columns as evidence. “We enjoy your column ‘Panorama’ and respect your efforts and the time you spend on researching. It’s amazing how many Ukrainians are being recognized for their outstanding talent, contributions and achievements,” wrote one reader from New Jersey. “Your column is very well written, most interesting and informative. … All that you write about is of interest to us,” wrote a couple who had moved from the Northeast to St. Louis, Mo.

But few people remember that Ms. Smindak was also an editor of The Ukrainian Weekly in 1957-1958, which means she was the second editor at this newspaper. (Stephen Shumeyko was the first, serving since the paper’s founding in 1933.) She also filled in as an editor of The Weekly on two occasions and came to help out as co-editor during a crisis in the spring of 1980, when the paper was left with one editorial staffer.

After her stint on The Weekly staff in the late 1950s, Ms. Smindak continued to submit articles. In the 1960s, she contributed a column called “Panorama of the Ukrainian Social and Cultural Scene.” In the 1970s through the early 1980s, her new column, “Panorama of Ukrainian Culture in the Big Apple,” became a regular feature – a very popular one at that. We lovingly called her “Scoop Smindak,” because if anyone could track down a star or a personality for an interview or a comment, it was the intrepid and resourceful Helen. When she gave up writing “Panorama” in 1983, Ms. Smindak already had an incredible 25 years of service to this newspaper and our readers.

Ms. Smindak’s byline returned to The Weekly’s pages in 1994 under a new column called “Dateline New York.” As our de facto cultural reporter, she also filed numerous feature stories, something she continued to do into the 2000s as a regular contributor. It was great to have “Scoop” back! It was noteworthy that this distinguished journalist was now reaching a new generation of our readers and gaining new fans.

We’ve missed Ms. Smindak since she retired from writing for The Weekly in 2013. There was no one who could take her place and do what she did for so many years. She was devoted to her profession – her calling. Hours and hours went into preparing each installment of her column on culture and the arts. She attended myriad events, telephoned countless sources and turned out innumerable pieces of exceptional writing that were enjoyed by thousands of our readers. In one of her e-mails to us from 2006 she said that writing for The Weekly “gave me enormous satisfaction and a good feeling that I was doing something worthwhile.”

Indeed, Helen Smindak’s efforts were worthwhile.

During this terrible time of coronavirus, it was impossible for Ms. Smindak’s colleagues from The Ukrainian Weekly to attend funeral services to pay our last respects. Writing from Parsippany, N.J., we can only say: Rest in peace, Helen. You will always be remembered by us and by the faithful readers of The Ukrainian Weekly. Vichnaya Pamiat.

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