November 20, 2008 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks E2283 EXTENSIONS OF REMARKS A TRIBUTE TO BISHOP EUGENE J. Ukrainian Museum-Archives (UMA), which had Nazis invaded in 1941, he, along with 2 million BLOUNT purchased the building from Plast. other Ukrainians, was forced to work in the In 1987 the UMA was adrift. Having been in German economy. His blue and white OST HON. EDOLPHUS TOWNS the Tremont neighborhood for a century, the patch identifying him as a slave is now part of Ukrainian community left for the suburbs after OF NEW YORK the UMA collection. When the war ended, Mr. highway construction demolished half the IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES Schuljak wisely decided to immigrate to Amer- houses and nearby factories were closing. ica. There, he maintained contact with his Wednesday, November 19, 2008 UMA leaders had either passed away or re- tired. And so, a staggering collection of memo- family, exchanging letters and phone calls, Mr. TOWNS. Madam Speaker, I rise today sending them money. to pay tribute and to honor Bishop Eugene J. rabilia, documents, books and artifacts was Blount. Bishop Blount has, from an early age, sitting neglected in an aging wooden building As he reached his mid-80s, Mr. Schuljak always placed a devotion to community better- in a neighborhood where the major industry was slowing down and the village in Cleveland ment and a passion for Christ and his church had become arson and insurance fraud. began to pay attention to his plight. Daria at the forefront of every endeavor he has un- Mr. Schuljak lived in a spare room on the Sopka, who worked at the UMA, signed him dertaken. second floor. Invariably, he sat on the porch up for the Cuyahoga County Passport Pro- Bishop Eugene J. Blount, in 1990, joined reading or prowled the streets of Tremont to gram for the elderly. Lida, a young immigrant let people know the UMA was viable and the Elim International Fellowship, where he in- from Lviv, assisted Mr. Schuljak with everyday someone was caring for it. In the winter he troduced a renewed enthusiasm for the scrip- needs, shopping, etc. At MetroHealth, nurses, tures and an appreciation for the supernatural, shoveled the snow; in the summer, he mowed the grass; throughout the year, he cleaned doctors and Ukrainian interpreters knew him serving in the prophetic ministry as one of the and was there to welcome the occasional vis- by name. ‘‘King’s Seers’’ and as Chief of Staff in the full itor. time ministry under the leadership of Arch- Then in January 2007, he slipped and broke I was 39 years old and ready for a change his leg. The leg healed, but at 95, he could no bishop Wilbert S. McKinley, where he molded after nearly a decade on Capitol Hill. My father and implemented the mission of the church. longer live unassisted and Myron Pakush— had been UMA director and I felt an obligation also with the UMA—arranged for him to be Bishop Eugene J. Blount, an outstanding to help preserve his legacy. And so, with old and well-respected member of the Brooklyn admitted to Avon Oaks, a nursing home friends like Ihor Kowalysko and new ones like owned and operated by the Reidys, Ukrainian clergy, will undoubtedly prove to be a tremen- Vlodko Storozynsky, we started working on Americans from Lorain County. dous asset to the Bedford-Stuyvesant commu- the collection and raising the profile of the in- nity as he is consecrated as a Bishop of the stitution. Not having heard from him for some time, Elim International Fellowship. At the age of 76, Mr. Schuljak welcomed the Mr. Schuljak’s family became concerned and Madam Speaker, I would like to recognize changes and made appropriate accommoda- called. When they learned what had hap- Bishop Eugene J. Blount for his extraordinary tions. He announced that he was now restrict- pened, they immediately offered to take care accomplishments and to congratulate him on ing his garlic to weekends only and told me of him in Ukraine. Well, Avon Oaks is a gra- his consecration at the Elim International Fel- that I was to avoid it altogether. People were cious and caring community and he had reg- lowship. noticing, he said, and we had to present a cer- ular visitors, especially Father John Madam Speaker, I urge my colleagues to tain image. Nakonachny from St. Vladimir’s Cathedral, but join me in paying tribute to Bishop Eugene J. Before long, the world around us changed it was still a nursing home and Mr. Schuljak Blount. dramatically: communism collapsed and was ecstatic at the prospect of ‘‘going home.’’ f Tremont began gentrifying. The arsonists went to jail, and urban pioneers were restoring his- But there was a problem: he had never be- HONORING IWAN SHULJAK toric buildings, opening art galleries, coffee come an American citizen and since Ukraine shops and restaurants. Developers built town- did not exist when he was born, he wasn’t a HON. MARCY KAPTUR houses and condominiums. And the UMA was citizen of that country either. So he couldn’t OF OHIO part of all that, with young volunteers and get a passport. IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES board members. Throughout, Mr. Schuljak I explained the situation to Ukraine’s ambas- was a mainstay: not only a caretaker, but also Wednesday, November 19, 2008 sador to the U.S., Dr. Oleh Shamshur, who di- an advisor, a confidant and a beloved figure in rected his consular office to help. To establish Ms. KAPTUR. Madam Speaker, I rise today the neighborhood. to recognize Iwan Shuljak of Cleveland, Ohio He had a thousand stories: you know the that Mr. Schuljak had been born in what is who passed away October 6, 2008. This guy at the Friendly Bar with no fingers on his today Ukraine, his relatives retrieved his birth record stands as first published in the Ukrain- left hand? Back in the 1930s, the NKVD de- certificate from 1911. He also needed an up- ian Weekly, November 2, 2008, written by An- manded he turn his gold over to the state. He dated ‘‘green card.’’ Alerted to the urgency of drew Fedynsky. In addition to this beautiful didn’t have any, he said, so they chopped off his case, the Department of Homeland Secu- narrative of the life of Iwan Shuljak, I fondly a finger and kept on until they were finally per- rity turned things around in less than a week. remember his warm smile and welcoming suaded he was telling the truth . The Ukraine’s honorary consul for Ohio, Andrew heart. He will be missed by his family, friends macabre punch line: the joke was on them! He Futey, and Roman Andarak at the Embassy in and the entire Ukrainian-American community. had the gold all along, and it’s still there, bur- D.C. did the rest and earlier this year, Mr. May his generous and loving spirit be com- ied in the ground. The guy hated the Com- Schuljak became a Ukrainian citizen. In June, fortable at its final resting place. munists so much he wouldn’t give them the accompanied by Ihor Mychkovsky, he arrived ‘‘This is a fairytale, only the story is true. satisfaction. in Kyiv to meet his relatives. His life had come And because it’s true, it ends with death, but Well, Mr. Schuljak, the son of farmers, full circle. it’s a fairytale and therefore has a happy end- hated them too. When communism came and ing. It’s about an elderly man who devoted his with it collectivization and famine, he became Because he was nobody’s responsibility, Mr. life to Ukrainian Culture and how the global a ‘‘class enemy.’’ Arrested and brutally interro- Schuljak became everyone’s. People all over village cared for him. gated, he carried scars the rest of his life helped out, making amends, in a way, for how I first met Iwan Schuljak in the early 1960s where a Chekist cracked his skull with a re- brutally he’d been treated in the first half of his at the Plast Scouting Home in Cleveland volver, depriving him of hearing in his right life and repaying him in part for his dedication where he was the live-in caretaker. Twenty- ear. and selflessness. He died on October 6, and five years later, he was still there when I re- Once the Terror subsided, Mr. Schuljak was is buried within walking distance of where he turned to Cleveland to become director of the released to work on the railroad. When the was born.’’ ∑ This ‘‘bullet’’ symbol identifies statements or insertions which are not spoken by a Member of the Senate on the floor. Matter set in this typeface indicates words inserted or appended, rather than spoken, by a Member of the House on the floor. VerDate Aug 31 2005 05:48 Nov 21, 2008 Jkt 079060 PO 00000 Frm 00001 Fmt 0626 Sfmt 0634 E:\CR\FM\K19NO8.020 E20NOPT1 smartinez on PROD1PC64 with REMARKS E2284 CONGRESSIONAL RECORD — Extensions of Remarks November 20, 2008 HONORING ROBERT AYERS GOULD, No longer did parents have to tell their kids, As the student body has grown, Mr. Gresh- SR. ‘‘Don’t touch that!’’ Please Touch moved and am and Mr. Beeman have led the board of expanded several times, but inevitably, its trustees in meeting their needs through a con- HON. JEB HENSARLING popularity outpaced every new location. tinuing building program that has expanded OF TEXAS Meanwhile stately Memorial Hall, grand icon and significantly modernized both campuses.