Larissa and Ivan Bombak are both first generation Ukrainian Canadians born to refugee parents from Ukraine. Ivan grew up in Edmonton, and Larissa in Toronto. The passion and attachment both Larissa’s and Ivan’s parents had towards Ukraine and Ukrainian culture was immense. As young people they were exposed to the horrors of Stalin’s efforts to subjugate and erase Ukrainians on their home soil. Thus, they strived to ensure that their own children would be cognizant of their cultural heritage, ancestry, and history. Larissa and Ivan visited Ukraine in 2017. They were deeply affected by what they saw in Dobromyl, the site of an underground salt mine where Ivan’s maternal grandfather worked. It had become the repository for the bodies of over 4,000 victims murdered by Stalin’s henchmen between 1939 and 1941. Why were they murdered? Not for any crimes, but for speaking Ukrainian, being faithful to God and Church, having a higher education, owning a business, or other Stalin-era “anti-Soviet” activities. Seeing firsthand what their parents had to endure, Ivan and Larissa developed an even deeper appreciation for the importance of preserving Ukrainian culture and history within the free, safe and generous parameters of our Canadian homeland. It is important that we do not take our Canadian safety and freedoms for granted, especially as the world stage precariously shifts around us.

Both Larissa and Ivan could only speak, read and write Ukrainian when starting grade school. Knowing how to read and write in the Ukrainian Cyrillic script made learning the English alphabet extremely simple, and both skipped grades in elementary school as a result. The post-war Ukrainian diaspora communities in Edmonton and Toronto were highly organized and offered evening and weekend courses in Ukrainian history, literature, and culture to students up to the high school level. Ivan and Larissa both attended these courses and acquired a broad knowledge base as well as numerous life-long friendships and acquaintances. Ukrainian community life also revolved around church. Ivan served as an altar boy for almost a decade at St. Josephat’s Cathedral in Edmonton and spent a year after grade 9 at the Ukrainian Catholic Seminary in Rome, Italy. Learning Latin there was tremendously useful for him in Law School. Both Ivan and Larissa were involved with the Ukrainian Scouting Organization PLAST, hiking and camping throughout Canada, from EXPO 67 in Montreal to Jasper, Alberta, to Prince Edward Island.

Ivan moved to Vegreville in 1982 to practice Law. It felt like a homecoming to him. His two uncles were Ukrainian Catholic priests with home bases in Glendon and Myrnam, Alberta. Summers in junior high had been spent with the Reverend uncle in Glendon travelling as an altar boy among the numerous parishes in NE Alberta. An appreciation of the Ukrainian settlement belt from Cold Lake to Smoky Lake developed. Alternately, Larissa had more of a culture shock (big city to small town), when she moved from Toronto to Vegreville in 1981 to teach in the newly formed Ukrainian Bilingual Program. The pay-off today is being greeted and hugged by generations of former students, and their children. Though she retired in 2016, Larissa continues to substitute teach, which she thoroughly enjoys.

Larissa and Ivan met in Vegreville, and married in 1987. Larissa is now permanently settled in Vegreville, not Toronto. She has been on the Board of Directors for the Vegreville Pysanka Festival for 41 years. She was the principal of the Ivan Franko School of Ukrainian Studies in Edmonton for 13 years. The Holy Trinity Ukrainian Catholic Church choir has been under her directorship for the last 12 years. She is a member of the Parish Council and the Ukrainian Catholic Women’s League of Canada, Vegreville.  Larissa has been the Chairperson of the Wendy Brook Music Festival in Vegreville since 2017. The Ukrainian Canadian Congress recognized Larissa’s contributions to the community by awarding her the Hetman Award – Exemplary Volunteer in 2023. Larissa is a member of the Vegreville and Area Stands with Ukraine Committee whose mandate is to assist and support Ukrainian newcomers who have been displaced by the war in Ukraine. 

Larissa and Ivan have three grown children – Ivanko, Marko, and Tanya. They grew up volunteering at the festival - selling program books, setting up and taking down venues, working at the Zabava. Tanya participated annually in dance, singing and recitation competitions. She performed at the Cultural Showcase with the Chaika Ensemble numerous times, and last year performed at the Grandstand with Ruta Folk Ensemble.

Larissa’s and Ivan’s sincerest wishes are for many more Pysanka Festivals for everyone to enjoy!