BULCHAK, Alexandra October 30, 1933 – November 20, 2020 The family is saddened to announce that on November 20, 2020 at Humber River Hospital in Toronto, Alexandra (“Lesia”) Bulchak (née Hoshowsky) peacefully fell asleep in the Lord following a brief illness. She was predeceased by her loving husband, Bohdan, in 2013. Alexandra was born on October 30, 1933 in Berezhany, Ternopil Oblast, Ukraine into a family of educators. At Christmastime 1941, following its occupation by Soviet forces, she was forced to flee her homeland as a young girl with her mother, Maria (née Moroz, deceased 1996, Toronto) to escape deportation to Siberia. Her father, Pylyp, a school principal, political activist, and WWI Ukrainian Galician Army veteran, remained, only to be arrested and later executed by the Soviets.
Making it to safety in what was then German-occupied Czechoslovakia (where her mother’s family was from), Alexandra attended public school in the town of ?eská Lípa, in the northern Sudetes Mountains region, and later went on to high school in Karlovy Vary. After WWII, she studied choral art and conducting at the Academy of Fine Arts in Prague. Bohemian Czech life attracted the young student, who spent more than one evening in the colourful atmosphere of diverse musical and literary performances. This opened a new vista in her own music career. Alexandra became involved in the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra’s administration, which included maintaining the music library, writing music criticism, helping with recordings, and organizing and attending endless meetings with musicians and other performers. She studied piano and voice and sang in a Ukrainian women’s choir. It was an exciting time to be young. The opportunity to hear great classical music performed live and to meet some of its composers was a thrill she remembered fondly for the rest of her life. In 1968, she and her mother were sponsored to Toronto, Canada by her mother’s first cousin, Jaroslaw Moroz (deceased 2010, Toronto). It is Jaroslaw who first introduced Alexandra to her future husband, Bohdan Bulchak (co-owner of the original MC Dairy from 1959 until he retired and sold the business to Future Bakery).
Alexandra and her beloved Bohdan were married on February 26, 1976 at Holy Eucharist Ukrainian Catholic Church, Toronto. Alexandra worked as a music librarian at Robart’s Library, University of Toronto, for many years. Over the years, the couple invested in fine art. In 2019, on behalf of herself and her late husband, Alexandra donated over 100 works from their collection to the Canadian Ukrainian Art Foundation. Alexandra and Bohdan were also patrons of the performing arts, with season’s tickets to the opera, symphony, and ballet, often accompanied by their very good friend and esteemed Ukrainian artist, and her cousin Jaroslaw’s wife, Irene Moroz (deceased 2018). In addition, Alexandra and Bohdan were proud and generous supporters of diverse Ukrainian Canadian cultural and educational organizations and other charitable causes. Alexandra loved to garden and especially her flowers. She kept a beautiful garden at her home, and also at their cottage in Terra Cotta. Mourning Alexandra’s loss are her cousin Marko Moroz and wife Linda, and their children Lidia and Tamara, her late cousin Andrew’s wife, Olana, and their son, Alexander, her cousins Michal (Shannon) and Vladimir (Marta) Sav?enko (U.S.A.; originally from Slovakia); her late husband’s niece, Roxanne (of La Pine, Oregon), Bohdan’s nephew Richard Lah with wife Darlene and children Justin, Jacob, and Joelyne with husband Steven and their children Austin and Hayden (of Waterloo), niece Zirka Bulchak of California, grandniece Natalka Matiushenko of Toronto, Bohdan’s god-daughter Ulana Plawuszczak Pidzamecky, her husband Taras and their children William, Sophia, and Alexander, also of Toronto, as well as family in Ukraine and friends in Canada. The family would like to offer its heartfelt thanks to the staff of the Ukrainian Canadian Care Centre for their loving and professional care during Alexandra’s last year of life, with special thanks to Dr. Szul for his attentive support.
Many thanks to Petro Kupnitsky for his years of friendship to both Bohdan and Lesia. A sincere thank-you to her companion, Rosemary, of Home Instead Senior Care, who brought joy and contentment to Alexandra during her final weeks. Heartfelt thanks, as well, to Newediuk Funeral Home Kipling Chapel for their services and understanding support. In lieu of flowers, the family will be grateful for donations in Alexandra’s memory to the Ukrainian Canadian Care Centre, the Canadian Ukrainian Art Foundation, or the Ukrainian Art Song Project.
Owing to COVID-19 restrictions, a private family funeral will take place at St. Demetrius The Great Martyr Byzantine Catholic Ukrainian Church, Toronto, on Wednesday, November 25, 2020, with interment at Park Lawn Cemetery. Alexandra will be deeply missed by all who knew her! Memory Eternal! Online condolences at newediukfuneralhome.com