Surnames: OLISHKEWYCH PANASEWYCH HOLOYDA KOWAL BOUCHATSKY HARNICK

----Source: Tribune-Record Gleaner (Clark County, WI) 06/19/2002

Olishkewych, George (2 May 1919 - 11 Jun 2002)

George Olishkewych, 83, Neillsville, died on Tuesday, June 11, 2002, at Saint Joseph's Hospital, Marshfield. A funeral mass was held at 6 p.m. on Friday, June 14, at the Gesche Funeral Home, Neillsville. The Rev. Petro Siwko and the Rev. Michaelo Kudanowich co-officiated. A second funeral mass was held at 11 a.m. on Saturday, June 15, at St. Andrew's Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church, Bloomingdale, Ill. The Rev. Mikola Bodnardchuk officiated. The church choir provided music. Burial was in the Elmwood Cemetery and Mausoleum, River Grove, Ill.

George Olishkewych was born on May 2, 1919, in Horohiw. He attended grade school and high school in Ukraine and then went on to technical college to obtain a degree in economics. During World War II, he fought with the Independent Ukraine Underground against both Nazi Germany and Communist Russia. During the war, on Aug. 31, 1944, he married Luba Panasewych. They were eventually captured by the Germans and forced to work in Nazi prison labor camps. They escaped to American controlled Germany, and the United Ukrainian American Relief Fund helped him to earn a degree in agricultural engineering. In 1950, they moved to the United States and settled in Chicago. He worked for 10 years until they purchased a farm near Neillsville. Ten years later, they purchased the Arbutus Cafe in downtown Neillsville. They operated it for 30 years and added a night club. He briefly opened a roller rink in the old Neillsville Armory. He then founded GO Sportswear, a jacket manufacturing business. After the business outgrew its space in the Armory, he moved it to a larger facility in Thorp. He operated the business until the time of his death. He ran for the 7th Congressional District seat in the 1970s. He was a member of St. Katherine's Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church, Minneapolis, and St. Andrew's Ukrainian Greek Orthodox Church, Bloomingdale, Ill.

Survivors include his wife, Luba, Neillsville, one son, Peter Holoyda, San Francisco one daughter, Olha Holoyda, Washington, D.C. three sisters, Nadia Kowal, Montreal, Canada, Olenka Bouchatsky, Montreal, Canada, and Helen Harnick, Toronto, Canada and seven nieces and nephews. The Gesche Funeral Home, Neillsville, assisted the family with arrangements.