The faith that sustained Bogda Iwaniczko during a long and painful battle with ovarian cancer began in her native Poland, where she was an active member of the Lublin Ecclesia of the Laymen’s Home Bible Mission during a time when the practice of any religion was illegal.
After graduating from Liceum Ogolnoksztalcace, Bogda and two friends celebrated by taking a train trip to Bulgaria. It was no ordinary trip, though, as the girls had stashed Bibles in their luggage.
The holy books were destined for the faithful in Ukraine, to be smuggled in by members of the Christian Brethren who had arranged to secretly rendezvous with the girls when their train stopped inside Ukraine.
Iwaniczko died Sept. 1. A memorial service will be held at 10 a.m. Sunday at Howe Mortuary, 1701 W. South Boulder Road, Lafayette. Her daughters, Ania Iwaniczko and Kasia Iwaniczko MacLeod, ask attendees to wear bright colors in honor of “the brightness with which our beloved mother lived her life, and as a symbol of the brightness she brought to others.”
“Mama waged her nearly five-year battle with cancer with a grace that was profoundly inspiring to everyone she touched,” MacLeod says. “Despite being ravaged with pain from the disease, as well as from the treatments themselves, she maintained a positive outlook on life and drew great strength and hope from her faith.”
On May 28, 2011, less than three weeks after her husband, Eugene Iwaniczko, a master research technician at the in Golden, succumbed to cancer, Bogda walked Kasia down the aisle for her wedding to David MacLeod.
Boguslawa “Bogda” Danuta Skroban was born Feb. 21, 1953, in Adampol, Poland, about 50 miles from the border of Ukraine.
She attended Policealne Studium Nasiennictwa Polniczego, an agricultural-sciences institute in Henrykow, Poland, from 1972 to 1975. She married Eugene Iwaniczko, whom she had known since childhood, on April 7, 1974. Their wedding reception was held in the one-bedroom apartment where Bogda and her two siblings had been raised.
Bogda worked at an agricultural institute in Dzierzoniow, researching seeds and crop yields, until August 1981, when she, Eugene and their two daughters fled with what they could put into a single suitcase.
They made their way to Colorado, where Eugene’s parents had settled in Lafayette. To learn English, they enrolled in evening classes at . Later, Bogda earned a business degree from .
She worked at Storage Technology Corp. from 1983 to 2008, taking a disability retirement after her cancer was diagnosed.
In addition to her daughters, Iwaniczko is survived by her mother, Zofia, of Swidnik, Poland; sister Regina of Warsaw; and brother, Piotr, of Heidelberg, Germany. Her father, Franek Skroban, and an infant daughter, Magdalena, preceded her in death.
In lieu of flowers, the family suggests contributions to , 3401 Quebec St., Suite 3200, Denver, CO 80207.
Joanne Davidson: 303-809-1314, jdavidson@denverpost.com or twitter.com/getitwrite
