Mother was also born in Ukraine in the small village of Zvenyhorod to Safron Gula and Mary Zakaluk Gula. Zvenyhorod, is a short distance from Lviv. Mom was named Eudokia. When she was very young she insisted that she was going to America. When her mother resisted her she threatened to jump into the well[1]. Finally her mother gave in and she at 16 years of age left Ukraine to go to New York. When she arrived in New York she took the American equivalent of Eudokia, Eva. Mother’s maternal grandparents were Stephen Zakaluk and Kcani Suratuk Zakaluk. Her paternal grandparents were Gregory Gula and Natasha Chiew Gula. Grandma Gula was married twice. Her first two children were Anastasia and Olga. Her husband died early in her marriage. Her husband’s name was Kovni or Kawny. Anastasia’s daughter Helen Petroaki lives in Derby, Conn. The older sister Olga lived in Poland and has since died. Grandma Gula remarried to Safron Sula. The children by the first marriage were raised by their paternal Grandparents. Our mother was the oldest of several children. I cannot remember the number, but a number had died in childhood. Her youngest sister was Anna. Her sister Olga also lived in America in New York City and she is the mother of Mary Klug and Anna Alfonso whose husband died as a young man.
Mom often spoke of her siblings that she would have to carry on her back while she worked in the fields, hoeing potatoes or watching cows grazing along the roads, always with one of the children strapped to her back.
She often spoke about the house in which she lived having a dirt floor. Clean straw was put on the floor weekly. Once the house caught fire and burned down. In rebuilding grandfather had to go a full days journey to Lviv to get stone to rebuild the house. There was no stone available nearby. Mom spoke about the well they had to dig. It was sixty feet deep and through all topsoil and no stones. The sides of the well was made of planks.
Grandfather Gula was often called upon by his neighbors to attend to the sick animals. He was a self-taught veterinarian. Mom attested to the fact that he was pretty good with all sick animals.
[1] Editor’s Note: Mom Zdepski told this story often. As I remember it the chronology went something like this. On Thursday, her best friend told her that she was going to America. When she went home for the evening meal, she announced that she wanted to go to America as well. Of course, she was told that she could not. Mom’s argument was that the family could not afford a dowry for her to be married. Her mother was counting on an Aunt in the city to provide the needed funds. At this point she announced that if she could not go to America she would jump down the well. For the next two days her mother followed her out-side each time Eudokia left the house. By Sunday the teenager had accomplished her goal. Her mother was a nervous wreck and was ready to relent. Being Sunday, it was not possible to buy a ticket, but her father went and bought her American passage during the next week. Within in a very short time she was on her way to America. Upon arrival, her aunt informed Eudokia that she could not support her. She took the $200 dollars her niece brought to gain entry to the US and bought her an “American” wardrobe. She also took her to a nanny position she had arranged. A Jewish restaurateur needed a nanny for his young children, and wanted a Gentile who could do small chores on Saturday, as well as someone who spoke Ukrainian so the boys would know their native tongue. This latter point limited Mom Zdepski’s ability to learn English, as speaking English to the boys was forbidden by her employer. Stephen took a drink of water from the famous well during his 1997 trip to the Ukraine.
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