Yevgeniya (Jane) Khibnik passed away peacefully at home surrounded by family on June 3, 2017 at the age of 91 in Ithaca, NY. She was a passionate teacher. She was a devoted and beloved wife, mother, grandmother and great grandmother.
Yevgeniya was born in Ukraine in 1926. She and her family fled to the Eastern part of the Soviet Union when Nazi Germany occupied Ukraine in 1941; those in her family who were not able to leave and stayed in Ukraine perished in the Holocaust. When the war ended she travelled back to Ukraine where she graduated from high school and was accepted to the Kiev State Pedagogical Institute. She graduated in 1950 as a teacher of Russian language and literature. Her accomplished career as a high school teacher in Belarus lasted until her retirement in 1980. She was loved and admired by her students. She thought of literature as a way to teach students to love and to understand people.
While studying in Kiev she met Iosif, her future husband of 65 years. Together, they raised two children. In 1994, they emigrated from Belarus to the USA and became residents of Ithaca, NY, followed shortly by their children and grandchildren. Yevgeniya studied English at BOCES with high determination, impressive at her age, and was loved by her ESL teachers and fellow students. She survived her husband Iosif by less than two years. Her family was always the center and the focus of her life, and she was always an attentive listener and had a word of wisdom for everyone she met in her long life.
Yevgeniya will be lovingly remembered by her son Alexander (Victoria) Khibnik, daughter Alla (Sergey) Lukina, grandchildren Marina (Timur), Slava (Valentina), Lena (Daniel) and Irina (Alexey), as well as five great grandchildren. The family would like to thank her long-time physician Dr. Elisabeth Cotton for her excellent care, and the nurses, aides and staff at Longview and HospiCare for their care and compassion in the last years and days of her life. The funeral ceremony will be held on June 5, 2017.
SERVICES Graveside Service
Monday, June 05, 2017 10:00 AM
Lakeview Cemetery 605 East Shore Drive Ithaca, NY 14850
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