Kateryna Yushchenko
| Kateryna Yushchenko Катерина Ющенко |
|
|---|---|
 |
|
| First Lady of Ukraine | |
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In office January 23, 2005 – February 25, 2010 |
|
| President | Viktor Yushchenko |
| Preceded by | Lyudmyla Kuchma |
| Succeeded by | Lyudmyla Yanukovych |
| Personal details | |
| Born |
September 1, 1961 Chicago, Illinois, U.S. |
| Spouse(s) |
Viktor Yushchenko (m. 1998–present) |
| Relations | Mykhailo Chumachenko (father; 1917–1998) Sofia Chumachenko (mother; born 1927) |
| Children | 3 |
| Alma mater |
Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service Georgetown University |
| Occupation | Former First Lady of Ukraine |
| Religion | Ukrainian Orthodox, Kyiv Patriarchate |
Kateryna Mykhaylivna Yushchenko (Ukrainian: Катерина Михайлівна Ющенко; born September 1, 1961 in Chicago) is the current and second wife of former Ukrainian President Viktor Yushchenko and former First Lady of Ukraine.
Yushchenko's father, Mykhailo Chumachenko, was born in the village of Zaitsivka, Kharkiv Oblast, in 1917, to a large family of farmers. He was one of only a few members of his large family to survive the Soviet Famine of 1932–1933.
Chumachenko studied electrical engineering in Lysychansk, Luhansk Oblast. He served in the Soviet Army, and was captured by Nazi forces and taken to Germany in 1942.
Yushchenko's mother, Sofia Chumachenko, was born in Litky, Kyiv Oblast, in 1927, and died 30 September 2012 in Kyiv.
Along with many girls in her village, Sofia Chumachenko was taken to Germany at the age of 14 to serve as a slave laborer.
Kateryna Yushchenko’s parents met in Germany, married, and gave birth to her sister, Lydia, in 1945. Mykhailo Chumachenko became seriously ill with tuberculosis in 1945 and spent eight years in a tuberculosis sanatorium.
In 1956, the Chumachenko family immigrated to the United States on an invitation from the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Chicago. Mykhailo Chumachenko worked as an electrician in Chicago until his retirement in 1984. The Chumachenkos moved to Florida in 1987. Chumachenko visited his native Ukraine three times, in 1991, 1994 and 1995. His dream was to return to his village and start a small farm. He died in 1998 and is buried in Kyiv.
Kateryna Yushchenko was born Catherine Claire Chumachenko in Chicago to immigrants from the Left-bank Ukraine. She is a former U.S. State Department official. She worked as a special assistant to the Assistant Secretary of State for Human Rights and Humanitarian Affairs. She holds a bachelor's degree in International Economics from the Edmund A. Walsh School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University (1982), and an MBA from the University of Chicago Graduate School of Business (1986).
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