Christine Karpevych

Viewing will take place on Thursday October 1st from 5-8pm with religious services taking place at 7pm.

Funeral Mass on Friday October 2nd, 9:30am at St. George Church. Private Cremation to follow.

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In Loving Memory of Christine Maria Karpevych

(December 27, 1935 - September 27, 2026)

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Christine’s remarkable life began in the beautiful city of Lviv, Ukraine.  She was the older sister to Oksana Sophia and the daughter of Bohdan and Maria Karpevych.  With her distinctive personality, warm smile, and boundless energy, she was a force of nature and made an impression on everyone she met.

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On March 17, 1949 Christine and family arrived in Manhattan on the USAT General Haan, a ship transporting post-WWII displaced persons.  Theirs was the classic immigrant story: having already endured so much for so long, they now faced the obstacles of language and navigating a strange city and culture. Christine often reflected on her first memory of America - amazement and excitement at seeing thousands of people and cars from the ship’s deck.  Christine carried that energy always.  She loved New York City and became the quintessential New Yorker:  vibrant, zany, fashionable, hip…and someone who knew exactly what they wanted and how they wanted it.

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Her life was rich with music, friends, family, and tennis.  An accomplished singer and pianist, she performed as a soloist, an accompanist, and even sang the role of Aida at the historic Amato Opera on the Bowery.  Some of her closest life-long friendships began with a shared vocal coach, Bill Hughes.  Over decades, many a friend or family member was invited to her subscription seats at the Metropolitan Opera, and if you told her you weren’t crazy about opera…it simply didn’t compute. She was a doting aunt to her sister’s children, Ann-Marie and Andrew and raised them on a very healthy dose of Broadway musicals and plays…and scrabble.  And she looked forward to Sundays, when she sang with her friends (her other “family”) in the St. George Ukrainian Catholic Church chorus. Although her tennis days are long gone, her weekly tennis matches with Rudy and other friends and their post-tennis dinners at Buona Sera (where they played opera) provided much joy and laughter.  Being an active member of the Ukrainian community was also very important to Christine.  After retirement, she was an involved member of the Ukrainian Institute, the Minutes Secretary for the Shevchenko Scientific Society, and a host at the Ukrainian Museum.  

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Christine loved people - she was warm and welcoming and so interested to learn and hear about everyone.  She loved her job as the librarian at the Journal of Commerce (for 25 years), because she was in the mix of things on an open newsroom floor with “colorful” reporters.  She had a sense of humor as well, creating a library newsletter called “Voice from the Morgue.” Her favorite show was Seinfeld, and surely everyone has heard her say, “This reminds me of that Seinfeld episode when Jerry….” Even until she was in her early 80’s, Christine would take the subway to Manhattan Beach and befriend strangers, practicing multiple languages and mistakenly telling them she typically swam 40 miles in the surf when she meant 40 minutes.  

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Most of all though, she adored her family.  Nothing was more important than spending holidays with her sister and brother-in-law, her niece and nephew, and her niece’s children, Graham and Leigh.  She took great care in the beautiful, loving messages she wrote in birthday cards, thank you notes for every meal, and special remembrances for every occasion. We remember special NYC weekends with our aunt, dressing up in her clothes and jewelry, the trips, the hours at the kitchen table making Ukrainian Easter eggs and vushka for Ukrainian Christmas Eve, and the stories of her wonderful friendships. We miss our Teta dearly and hold her in our hearts forever.

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