Steel Valley Voices

Dinah Fedyna’s grandparents came to the U.S. from the Ukrainian region of the Austro-Hungarian empire in the first decade of the 20^th century.  They settled in Youngstown because they had family members already here who sponsored them, helping them find housing and work.

Anastasia Andrejko married Mykola (Nick) Fedyna in 1911 at Holy Trinity Church

Her grandfathers went to work in the steel mills.  Her paternal grandmother, Anastasia, worked at first as a laundress, though later in her life, when she and her family lived on a farm on the West Side of Youngstown, she looked after the cows.  The families had come from small villages in the Ukraine, and farming had long been part of their lives.

Dinah also grew up on the West Side, in the Birch Hill area near Mill Creek Park.  She describes the neighborhood as ethnically diverse, with neighbors who were Hungarian, Italian, German, and Macedonian.  The family’s Ukrainian heritage was part of celebrations of holidays like Christmas and Easter and through their participation in Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church.    As with many families, Dinah’s also enjoyed ethnic foods, especially at holidays – pirohy, kolachi, and more.

Dinah’s parents attended Ukrainian school, an after school program at the church, and they attended a Ukrainian dancing school.  Her father enjoyed seeing visiting dance troupes that came through town.

Sts. Peter and Paul Ukrainian Orthodox Church Dance Group, from the 1930s.

Dinah’s father spoke Ukrainian when she was growing up, and she is still able to understand the language and read it, though she says she doesn’t speak it well.  She regrets not learning more of the language when she was young.

Dinah Fedyna in Ukrainian costume for a cultural day at West Elementary School in Youngstown, 1966.

Her knowledge of the language proved useful when Dinah traveled to the Ukraine.  She’s been three times – once, soon after the fall of Communism, with an American Academy of Physicians trip to deliver medical supplies, and then with her husband, Joe Novicky, and some friends.  On the second trip, she met some of her relatives and visited the villages where her grandparents were born.

Dinah Fedyna and Joe Novicky in Goluvka in the Ukraine, with Dinah's first cousin once removed (in babushka).

A few years ago, Dinah and Joe returned to the Ukraine, this time to adopt a child, their daughter Natalia.  After an initial visit of several months, they had to come home, and Joe went back to bring Natalia home.

Dinah encourages Natalia to stay connected with her Ukrainian background.  She tries to help Natalia maintain some knowledge of the Ukrainian language, and she’s especially pleased with Natalia’s response to hearing familiar music from a contemporary Ukrainian singer.

Dinah appreciates the struggles her parents and grandparents went through to leave their homes and come to this country, and the difficulties they experienced once they arrived.

Natalia Novicky in her traditional Ukrainian costume.

She views the ethnic diversity of Youngstown as a strength.  Even though people come from different ethnic backgrounds, Dinah says, the share a sense of connection to other people, to the idea of family and community – even across ethnic lines.