Eva Halaburda

Eva was a devoted wife, a loving mother and grandmother who is remembered for the selfless way she lived her life and the many ways she demonstrated extraordinary compassion and empathy. Her Catholic faith and life experiences shaped her into the caring and nurturing person she became.

Eva was born on March 3, 1936 in Banycia, Poland, a small village in the Carpathian Mountains which is part of the historically Ukrainian populated region known as Lemkivshchyna. She grew up in a wooden house with a straw roof and didn’t have electricity or modern conveniences, but her family was self-sufficient and had what it needed. Her grandfather, Hryhorij Fesz, whom she loved very much, went to America three times in the early 1900’s to earn money. On one occasion he worked in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. When he returned, he bought 100 acres of land in Banycia (Banica) which allowed the multi-generational Fesz family to farm vegetables and fruit trees, and engage in husbandry and fishing. Her grandfather inspired a dream in Eva and her siblings to one day come to America.

As an adult, Eva seized the opportunity to come to the U.S. even though it meant leaving a job in Poland working in a factory where she was just shy of completing training to become a nurse onsite. Eva had a natural talent for caring for others and honoring the dignity of those who couldn’t care for themselves. Later in life she would go on to work as a nanny and a private home-health caretaker for the elderly and disabled. She also beautifully nursed and cared for her husband, John, in his later years of declining health.

Eva met John through Immaculate Conception Ukrainian Catholic Church in Hamtramck, Michigan. They married in 1967 and raised their growing family in the metro-Detroit area engaged in activities within that organized Ukrainian community. Upon retirement, Eva and John moved to Lake Worth and then Wellington, Florida.

Eva spent her life closely connected with her family despite the distance between them. Her siblings, cousins and their families settled throughout Europe, the U.S., and Canada. Eva was the keeper of the family history and helped keep family ties tightly woven. She made certain her children spoke Ukrainian and grew up knowing their uncles, aunts, and cousins.

Eva’s earliest childhood memories include loving moments with her large extended family. She recalled stories her grandfather would tell all the children about life under occupation by the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The borders of their historic Ukrainian land changed over time.

During her childhood, her family’s land would become part of the battlefront during WWII when the German socialists and Russian communists destroyed life in her village and shattered her family and others. As a child, Eva witnessed wartime atrocities and the rounding up of family members who were later murdered in concentration camps. Her family land was stolen by the communists in a state-issued action & resettlement campaign known as Operation Vistula in 1947. Eva warned about the horrors of Marxism and socialism/communism throughout her later life.

Eva’s oldest brother, Stefan, was murdered at the age of 18 in a nazi concentration camp in or near Auschwitz during WWII. Her father was murdered in a communist concentration camp in Jaworzna after WWII ended, in 1947. Eva’s childhood wartime traumas would surface sporadically during the final weeks of her life.

Eva believed life was an incredible and sacred gift. Her end-of-life wish was to have a natural death on God’s time, not her own. When asked in her final days what she needed, Eva said, “I just need Jesus.”

She is survived by daughters Maria “Mary” (Bohdan) Kraj, Olga (Daniel) Hietpas, and Lidia (Gilles) Boisson; grandchildren Natalie and Emily Kraj, Maksym and Alexander Hietpas, and Andrew and Emily Boisson; as well as brothers Andrej (d. Irene) Fesh, Petro (Anna) Fesz, Volodymyr (Maria) Fesz, sister Maria (d. Michael) Markowycz, cousin Emily (d. Tadeusz) Haber, and many dear nieces and nephews along with their families whom she loved very much.

Eva was preceded in death by her husband, John Halaburda, and two children who were heartbreakingly lost through miscarriage. Eva is reunited with her parents, Petro and Emilia (Fylak) Fesz, and her brothers, Stefan Fesz, Ivan (Anna) Fesz, Mychajlo (Anna) Fesch, Wasyl (Maria) Fesz, and Dmytro (Daria) Fesz.

Visitation will be held from 2:00pm to 6:00pm, on Friday, September 29, 2023 at the Dorsey-E. Earl Smith Memory Gardens Funeral Home (3041 Kirk Road, Lake Worth, Florida 33461). A funeral service celebrating the life of Eva Halaburda will be held at Sacred Heart Catholic Church (425 North M Street, Lake Worth, Florida 33460) at 10:00am, on Saturday, September 30, 2023. She will be laid to rest beside her husband at Lake Worth Memory Gardens in Lake Worth, Florida.

If desired, Eva’s family suggests memorial contributions may be directed to the Go Fund Me fund for “West Ukraine Catholic Monastery Expansion” (Transfiguration of Our Lord Jesus Christ) which was set up by Eva’s daughter to help provide spiritual and psychological healing for those in Ukraine suffering from war trauma.

Please click on the "Donations Link" below this obituary.

Eva’s family also asks you to say a prayer for peace throughout the world.