Title: Klymkiw Family fonds

Dates: 1917-2000

Extent: 10.5 m of textual records and other material

Biographical Sketch: Walter (Volodymyr) Klymkiw was
born in Saranchuky, Ukraine in 1926. Emigrating to Canada
in 1928, he and his parents settled in Winnipeg. In 1950 he
earned a B.A. in English and History at the University of
British Columbia. He returned a year later to Winnipeg, and
received a teaching certificate from the University of
Manitoba. In 1951 he began conducting the Ukrainian
National Federation Choir (renamed the Olexander Koshetz
Choir in 1967) of Winnipeg, under the guidance of Tetiana
Koshetz and Pavlo Macenko. In 1952 Klymkiw married
Mary (Marusia) Kopychansky, and had two sons Myroslaw
(Slawko) and Paul. Upon receiving his teaching certificate,
Klymkiw began his career as a history teacher in 1953 at
Glenwood Junior High School. He continued to teach at
several schools until his retirement in 1983. Retirement
allowed Klymkiw to devote more time as choral director of
the Olexander Koshetz Choir. During his nearly fifty years
with the choir, Klymkiw and his choir toured throughout
Canada, Ukraine, Poland, the Czech Republic, Western
Europe, and South America. Besides his choir, Klymkiw
and his wife devoted much of their time to various
community activities. In December 2000, after a
lengthy battle with cancer, Walter Klymkiw passed
away at the age of seventy-four in Winnipeg.

Digitized Material: The digitized material from the Klymkiw
Family fonds consists of geneological information and
photographs of family members and of certain Ukrainian
national organizations.

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