Larissa Kardash

Larissa was born in Sinferopil in Crimea on December 11, 1927. She was the 5th child of Anna

and Michael Poshman. Her grandfather Bernard Poshman came from Bremenhoff (North

Prussia) along with other professionals to raise the industrial development of Ukraine at the

time.

When Larissa was 2 1/2 years old her mother passed away and she was subsequently adopted

by her aunt Anna Khomenko and her husband who lived in Kharkiv. Anna Khomenko’s

husband, Evstakhiy, was a highly educated agricultural professional.

Larissa lived through the horrors of the Holodomor (Stalin’s famine –genocide) in 1932-33.

In March of 1932 her adoptive father along with 80 additional innocent victims in the city

were brutally executed by the communist regime as perpetrators of the famine. Her mother

was given 10 days to leave Ukraine. Since at that time Crimea was under Russian rule that is

where Larissa and her mother went. Given the circumstance, Larissa was returned to her birth

father. When Anna was married a second time, she was again able to re-adopt Larissa.

With the onset of WWII in 1939, Larissa’s adopted father was conscripted into the soviet army

and was never heard from again. With the oncoming front fast approaching, Larissa and her

mother along with thousands of others had a harrowing escape to the West. They ended up in

Austria where Larissa worked in a chemical laboratory.

At war’s end, the soviets had occupied half of Austria. People were trying to escape the soviet

zone to the western part. In the mayhem, Larissa was separated from her mother. Both

Larissa and her mother ended up at DP (Displaced Persons) camps and after searching each

other out, finally found each other and Larissa went with her mother to the camp in Salzburg.

According to Stalin and Churchill’s agreement, all those that escaped the Soviet Union were to

be returned (to be executed or sent to Siberia). Thanks to her mother’s craftiness they were

able to stay in the west.

In one of the barracks of the DP camp a Ukrainian Orthodox Church was formed. It was in the

church choir which Larissa and her mother sang, that she met Sonya Sakhno with whom she

would be reunited in another choir on another continent. It was at this camp that Larissa

eagerly learned other skills such as decorative engraving, seamstress sewing and design and

was also a nurse’s aide.

In August of 1948, Larissa and her mother headed out to Canada on a work contract as a

seamstress. After arriving in Halifax, they had a weeklong train ride across Canada to

Vancouver. At the train station in Vancouver they were met by Father Svoboda of the

Ukrainian Greek-Catholic Church. He had arranged for Larissa and her mother to stay with

one of his parishioners.

Larissa and her mother had worked off their yearlong contract at the seamstress company. In

the meantime her mother had reconnected with acquaintances from Salzburg who settled in

Toronto. Shortly after, her mother decided for them to move to Toronto. As Larissa had

already started singing classes and ballet school, she decided to remain in Vancouver. After

completing her seamstress contract Larissa worked at Vancouver General Hospital as a

nurse’s aide.

Arriving in Vancouver from Fort William (today known as Thunder Bay) in 1949 was Vasyl

Kardash. It was here that Larissa and Vasyl first met. In time, Vasyl took over as conductor of

the “Cossack Choir”, organized a church choir and branch of the Ukrainian Youth Association

(SUM) and a drama group. Larissa sang in the church choir and had taken part in all of the

plays which were produced.

At the start of 1952 Vasyl leaves for Winnipeg to take over the men’s choir and shortly

thereafter he expands it to create a mixed choir. In 1953 Larissa arrives in Winnipeg.

Larissa completes the “Marvel Beauty School” course and enters the “Hairstyling Contest of

Manitoba” at which she wins the silver medal and an expenses paid trip to Toronto for an

additional hairstyling course.

Father Simon Yhezkhyk of St. Nicholas Church in Winnipeg wed Larissa and Vasyl on

Wednesday, November 28, 1956. The honeymoon was a trip to the movie theater. Back to work

on Thursday morning.

Eventually they bought a property on the bank of the Red River and built a home. April 13,

1959 their daughter Virlana was born.

Due to total exhaustion from his job and community workload, Vasyl fell gravely ill. Realizing

that this torrid pace cannot go on, they decide to move to Ottawa in September of 1961 where

Vasyl would continue his studies at university. Larissa puts her talents as a hairstylist to work

from their home in order to pay the bills. It is in Ottawa that their son Adrian is born in March

of 1962.

In January of 1965, Larissa and her family move to Toronto where Vasyl, at the request of the

previous conductor, takes over the Ukrainian men’s choir “Prometheus”.

In 1970, Larissa and Vasyl renew the traditional form of the Easter ritual dances (Hayivky).

Vasyl researches the musical repertoire and Larissa researches the steps and figures involved.

This tradition has spread to many Ukrainian communities throughout the diaspora.

Behind every great man is a great woman, and Vasyl was the first to admit and acknowledge

that Larissa was a tremendously hardworking, dedicated woman, wife and mother. She was

unselfish and an incredible worker.

Larissa was the right hand of the conductor in leading the ensembles. She was the primary

helper and advisor taking on a multitude of obligations. She transcribed notes and scores,

kept a catalogue of repertoire, prepared concert programs, took care of correspondence, sent

recordings and notes throughout the diaspora from South America to Australia wherever they

were requested. Having gifted artistic taste, she designed all of the concert uniforms for CYM

ensembles and later for the Ukrainian Youth Ensembles. It was Larissa’s idea to create the

junior drum corps (mini-band) as a component of the Ukrainian Youth Ensembles. She did the

work of 20 women.

Larissa loved studying Ukraine’s rich archeological heritage, history and culture and

incorporated ancient motifs into the creation and design of ensembles’ uniforms. In

subsequent years, her designs were imitated by other ensembles.

After Vasyl’s passing, Larissa continued working on his behalf and had many of his

compositions, instrumentations and arrangements copied to a computerized format so that

this musical legacy would not be lost. She also took it upon herself to transfer the previous 3

decades of recordings into CD format.

Larissa volunteered at her parish of St. Volodymyr’s in Thornhill. She provided notes for the

church choir at her parish as well as other parishes. She helped out in the kitchen and at the

Friday Perogie Nights.

Her home was always open and welcoming. It was always the last stop for Christmas carollers.

She was always well known for her hearty Christmas borscht, or as the carollers referred to it,

“garlic soup”.

In later years after the passing of her husband, the work of the ensembles subsided and she

was finally able to enjoy living in a home instead of an office. She now had the opportunity to

finally live a normal family life and had the opportunity to watch and take pride in her

grandchildren grow and develop. Living with her son’s family for 13 years introduced another

form of chaos into her life. The yelling, the screaming, the cats and kittens, the dogs, the

racoons and various other animals demonstrated her patience and understanding.

A religious woman, Larissa prayed the rosary daily for her family. Each member had a specific

rosary that she used to pray for and with. In 2013 she finally had the opportunity to join a

pilgrimage tour to Fatima, Lourdes and other sites. To make sure she didn’t end up in another

part of the world she was accompanied by her granddaughter Kalyna.

For her son’s family who have been her caregivers for her last 16 years, it has been difficult to

see their mother/baba slip away. Regardless of her situation she always kept smiling and

laughing. May her memory be eternal!