Ivan Shumuk grew up in the same village in Ukraine as his uncle, Danylo. They shared similar viewpoints until WWII interceded. Danylo remained in Ukraine to become the "eternal prisoner"; whereas Ivan emigrated to Canada as a WWII refugee settling in Vernon, British Columbia with his wife, Nina.
When I was teaching at Kalamalka College in 1983-84, Lily and I were hosted by the Shumuk's several times at their home, located on a hillside beneath the railway track heading east from Vernon. In typical Ukrainian fashion, they had a delightful garden highlighting vegetables, flowers and beehives (if I recall correctly). The conversation was always stimulating -- ranging from Ukrainian politics to his promotion of the Canadian railway system.
In addition to their daughter, Lydia, we eventually became acquainted with their son, Victor, when he later came out to Montreal. We became good friends and because of a mutual interest in computers organized UKUG_Mtl (Ukrainian Komputers Users Group of Montreal), which hosted a couple of Computer Shows in 1993-94 highlighting Ukrainian software.
Because Ivan Shumuk's views on Ukrainian affairs influenced my own, I thought it would be nice to archive four letters which he wrote Lily and me between 1986 and 1993:
shumuk19860822zuzak.html
shumuk19870125zuzak.html
shumuk19870126zuzak.html
shumuk19930204zuzak.html
Will Zuzak; 2004-12-25