CAN YOU IDENTIFY ANY OF THESE PEOPLE?

This 1937 photograph shows a play recreating life in the Carpatho-Rusyn homeland as presented at St. Mary's Greek Catholic Church on 49th and Seeley Avenue in Chicago's Back of the Yards neighborhood.  It was posted on this blog on May 15, 2010 by the deceased founding president Tim Cuprisin of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society/Lake Michigan Chapter. 

Founded by Carpatho-Rusyn immigrants in 1903, St. Mary's closed in 1996 along with St. Mary's in Joliet, Illinois.  The two parishes merged into the new Annunciation of the Mother of God Byzantine Catholic Church in Homer Glen, Illinois.

Tim’s father, John Cuprisin, is the third from the right in the back row.  At front left is Rev. Eugene Bereczky, the pastor of St. Mary's until the early 1960s. On the right is Paul Kabaczi, the parish's veteran cantor, who served into the 1970s. 

In the original post, Tim asked anyone who could identify someone in the photo to email him.  Last week, almost three years after that posting, an email arrived from Marti Gorun who identified the woman on the right side of Tim’s father as her grandmother Anna Gorun and on his left is her youngest son, Joseph Gorun.   Thanks for your help, Marti!!!

If you can identify any other person in the photo, please email the name and the position of the person to:  lakemichiganrusyns@gmail.com.

As many of us know all too well, pictures and other documentation of the early days of our Carpatho-Rusyn ancestors are slowly disappearing.  One of the objectives of the Carpatho-Rusyn Society is to preserve the history of our people.  If you have any photographs, ethnic clothing, family stories or other items reflecting our culture, please consider sharing them with our chapter or the National organization.  For further information, contact us at the email address above so we can collect, preserve and share our heritage. 

Thank you for wanting to perpetuate the Rusyn culture and visiting our blog.