Nelya Strilkivsky, 22, and her sister Anna Strilkivsky, 7, were killed Sunday morning when their Honda Civic collided with a semitrailer truck five miles east of Crete on Nebraska Highway 33. Their 11-year-old sister, Tanya, was in critical condition Monday at BryanLGH Medical Center West.
"The Strilkivsky sisters enrolled in the Dorchester schools in 2004, said Don Pieper, Dorchester's superintendent. The district has 240 students. Pieper said Nelya was a talented artist who graduated in 2005. 'She could draw things that were really excellent,' he said."
"Anna was in a first-grade class of 25 students, Pieper said. 'There were tears down there this morning,' he said of his visit to the first-grade classroom."
"There are 11 children in the Strilkivsky family, a close-knit Ukrainian family that took school seriously. Three of the Strilkivsky children, including Nelya, already had graduated from Dorchester, a school official said. Pieper said Anna and Tanya's teachers called each family in their first- and fifth-grade classes so parents could prepare their children for what they would hear about their classmates."It's obviously a tragedy, and we're dealing with it the best we can,'' Pieper said. "These are never easy times, but we'll make it through.''
** UPDATE: 4/15, 5:45 p.m. **
The Lincoln Journal Star reports that 11-year-old Tanya Strilkivsky remained in critical condition throughout yesterday, but that doctors talked of some encouraging signs, her sister Natasha said. Tanya, a fifth-grader at Dorchester Elementary School, has opened her eyes several times and was able to move her fingers in response to questions, Natasha said. “The doctors said the CAT scan looked very good,” Natasha said.
On the morning of the accident, the sisters "were on their way to services of a Ukrainian congregation that meets at Gates of Praise Church in Lincoln," according to the article. "The sisters’ father and stepmother, Vasily and Nina Strilkivsky, had left for church about 20 minutes after the sisters and came upon the accident.
"Vasily Strilkivsky and his first wife, Lyubov, the mother of his 11 children, moved to the United States almost 20 years ago, shortly before the fall of the Soviet Union. At their in between Crete and Dorchester, the family grew from three children to 10. Then, shortly before the birth of her last child, Lyubov fell ill with stomach cancer; she died on Christmas Day in 2001. Local benefits raised money for Vasily as he struggled to care for his children and return to work.
"The Strilkviskys are a very hard-working family, said family friend Harvey Schweitzer of Dorchester. Vasily has worked at Farmland Foods for many years and also repairs cars, he said.
"Nelya Strilkivsky mothered the clan for a year before her father remarried, Natasha said Monday. Nelya graduated from Dorchester High School in 2005 and worked for Molex in Lincoln. She lived with a grandmother in Lincoln during the work week, and spent the rest of her time at home. 'She liked to hang out with her sister, me,' Natasha said. She described Nelya as a quiet girl who kept to herself. 'She was very kind and caring. She was always doing things for the family. You never had to tell her, she just bought stuff or did stuff for us.'"
The kids have learned early in life how fragile life is. Unfortunate all the way around.
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