Eva Marie Dryanski

Eva was born in 1950 in London, England as Ewa Bardasz. Her parents Kazimierz and Helena, residents of Polish Lwów – now modern-day Ukrainian Lviv – fought and survived the Second World War. Their struggle took them from the combined German and Russian invasion of Poland in September 1939 to imprisonment in Russian Siberia to the march of the Polish 2nd Corps across central Asia to British Iran. For the last years of the war Helena lived and taught at a resettlement camp in Rusape while Kazimierz and the 2nd Corps fought for the British in the Italian campaign, winning accolades at Monte Cassino. But with the war’s conclusion and the drawing of the Iron Curtain it became clear they could not return home. So it was that Eva was born a British Citizen and the shadow of the war forever colored the lives of Eva and her family.

Most of Eva’s youth was spent in Cleveland, Ohio, where her parents eventually settled down and she became a naturalized American Citizen. The middle of three siblings, Eva often found herself in a caretaker role, and to make ends meet she worked at Marymount Hospital while attending class at John Carroll University. As her career progressed she obtained a master’s degree in education and worked as a teacher and school administrator in primary education. In time, this drew attention from Cleveland’s Polish community and led to a unique opportunity: to travel back to Poland, teach at the American Embassy School, and pursue a Doctorate at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków.

On the plane traveling out a Polish-American medical student seated behind her repeatedly bothered her. She would eventually agree to marry the impetuous Gregory Dryanski, and after the two spent some years living and working in Poland they returned to the United States.

Greg’s medical practice took them to the Caribbean Island of Montserrat; back to Cleveland, Ohio; to Detroit, Michigan; and to Las Vegas, Nevada, where they raised their family over 20 years. Eva taught when she could but eventually dedicated herself to her children and projects full time.

Scholarship and the study of history were dear to Eva, and she engaged in many amateur history projects over her years. In particular, her interest in her own family’s history became a valuable resource to the Kresy Siberia project to which she provided Polish-English translation work and numerous primary source artifacts. She and Greg traveled often, and she good-naturedly put up with his many museum and battlefield excursions. It was a love of humanity that drew them together and kept them happy over their many years.

Eva, caretaker and responsible one, outlasted her siblings, Bart and Mary, and her husband Greg. She is survived by her sister-in-law, Lucia Dryanski, her brother-in-law, Gregory Romanchok, her daughters, Alina and Christina, and by her son, Andrew. After all the travel and exploration she and Greg spent their last years in Norman, Oklahoma near to Andrew, with her often remarking on how very reasonable the prices for everything in Oklahoma were. In her youth family was everything, and in her waning era her greatest concern was that her own children should be provided for. It is her family’s great regret that she rarely took time to care for herself.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to Rebuild Ukraine (https://rebuild-ua.org/), the Kresy Siberia project (https://kresy-siberia.org/), Vegas Shepherd Rescue (2620 Regatta Dr. Suite 102, Las Vegas, NV 89128), or the charity of your choice. Or else emulate her attitude of caring by supporting your own family and loved ones today, even just in small ways.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.primrosefuneralservice.com for the Dryanski family.