Oksana (Bilozor) Koropeckyj

Oksana Bilozor Koropeckyj 

Oksana Bilozor was born January 12, 1933, to Dr. Volodymyr and Maria (Fedynska) Bilozor in Kolomyya, Ukraine, then part of Poland.  She had two older sisters, Natalia and Olha.  At the outset of World War 2, the Bilozor family moved from Kolomyya to Lviv, where Oksana started school.  After the German invasion, as the region became more dangerous, the family fled Western Ukraine and migrated through Eastern and Central Europe. They eventually found refuge in southern Germany in several displaced persons camps.  She met Mykola Koropeckyj on a volleyball court in a camp in Dillingen, and they married a few years later.

The Bilozor family emigrated to the U.S. in 1949, where Oksana completed high school in Jersey City, NJ, and attended Mount Mercy College in Pittsburgh, PA.  She married Mykola Koropeckyj in 1952 and then began her journey accompanying him on multiple assignments in the US Army in the US and twice in Germany.  During that time, she raised two sons and two daughters: Marko (1961), Andriy (1964), Tanya (1966), and Ulana (1969).  Upon her husband's retirement from the Army in 1969 the family settled in Maryland. She completed her education as a Certified Banking Professional and worked in banking in Baltimore. 

Oksana cherished her role as mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, and aunt.  She retired in 1991 to look after her eldest grandson.  She was committed to visiting her geographically scattered children and grandchildren, which included travel to Germany, Ukraine, Hungary, and Turkey, as well as Pennsylvania and Florida.  She also travelled to Ukraine three times to maintain bonds with extended family.  Over the years, she enjoyed the travel but she relished putting down roots and having her beloved family and community nearby.

A lifelong member of the national Ukrainian scouting organization PLAST, Oksana lived by the central tenets of scouting: dedication to God and country and living a life of honor and service.  She was devoted to the Ukrainian Catholic Church, serving her Curtis Bay parish as treasurer and eventually trustee.  She was active in PLAST locally in a variety of leadership roles and nationally through the Pershi Stezhi women’s scouting group.  She taught at the School of Ukrainian Studies of Greater Washington, DC, and she volunteered as a librarian at her children’s elementary school.  After moving to the Charlestown Retirement Community, Oksana enjoyed volunteering in the library and playing Scrabble with her neighbors into her late-80s.

Oksana Bilozor Koropeckyj transitions on to join her husband of 59 years, Mykola, as well as her parents and sisters Natalia B. Koropeckyj and Olha B. Cehelsky.  She is missed by her four children: Marko, Andriy (the late Tamar Donovan), Tanya (Matthew Cox), and Ulana (Andrew Chorney); eight grandchildren: Ross (Kim), Damian (Libby), Darius (Erin), Victor, Lydia (Tucker), Daniel (Estelle), Isadora, and Zorianna; and two great-grandchildren: Kennedy and Sydney.  She is also missed by nieces and nephews in the Koropeckyj and Cehelsky families and their children and grandchildren, extended family, dear friends, and her beloved caregivers.

The family requests relatives and friends to visit the family owned Gonce Funeral Service P.A. 4001 Ritchie Hwy. on Wednesday from 3 to 5 and 7 to 9  pm. A Parastas Service will be held at the funeral home Wednesday evening at 7:00 pm.  A Funeral Mass will be on Thursday at 10:00 A.M. in Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Catholic Church on Church St. in Curtis Bay. Interment will held in St. Michaels Ukrainian Cemetery  

In lieu of flowers, donations may be made to Razom for Ukraine (razomforukraine.org) or another Ukrainian war relief effort or the Ukrainian Catholic University Foundation (ucufoundation.org).

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