Parfanovych, Sofiia

Parfanovych, Sofiia [Парфанович, Софія; Parfanovyč, Sofija; married name: Волчук; Volchuk], b 7 June 1898 in Lviv, d 26 December 1968 in Detroit, Michigan. Gynecologist and writer; full member of the Shevchenko Scientific Society from 1942. A graduate of Lviv University (1926), she worked at the Lviv General Hospital and the Narodnia Lichnytsia clinic. She was active in the Ukrainian Hygienic Society and the Vidrodzhennia temperance society and wrote a number of books on hygiene, proper nourishment, and temperance, including the popular Hihiiena zhinky (Hygiene of a Woman, 1939). In 1949 she emigrated to the United States. Her short stories, based on her experiences as a doctor, appeared in the collections Tsina zhyttia (The Price of Life, 1936) and Inshi dni (Other Days, 1948). She also wrote the collections of short stories U lisnychivtsi (At the Forest Reserve, 1954), Liubliu Dibrovu (I Love Dibrova [a holiday resort near Detroit], 1959), and Charivna Dibrova (Enchanting Dibrova, 1964) and the novels Virnyi pryiatel’ (Faithful Friend, 1961) and Takyi vin buv (The Way He Was, 1964).

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 3 (1993).]