Orest Melnyk of Hallstead, PA passed away Tuesday morning, March 25, 2025 at Guthrie Lourdes Hospital in Binghamton, NY.  He was 95 years old.

Orest is survived by his sister Marta Prytulyak,  Koniuchiw, Ukraine, and her family in Ukraine including her daughter Xenia Chubko and her husband Yuriy, grandson Andrei Chubko, granddaughter Olha Sharybura and her husband Andrei, and two great grandchildren.

In the United States he is survived by his cousins Christina Melnyk Oates, Ihor Melnyk, Marusia Melnyk Solomon and her husband Robert, Orysia Melnyk Eagan, Oleh Melnyk, Olga Melnyk Skelly, Alex Melnyk and his wife Ann, and the cousins’ children and grandchildren.

He was the beloved nephew of Gregor and Jaroslawa Melnyk and Michael and Paraska Melnyk, who predeceased him.

Orest was an active member of the Sacred Heart Ukrainian Catholic Church in Johnson City, NY, continuing to attend services, assist in Mass, and volunteer for a variety of activities through the final years of his life. He was dedicated to his church.

Orest was kind, selfless, and genuine in his giving. He was always there to help his family, friends and co-workers, modestly refusing any special recognition.  He retired after many years as chief automotive technician for the U.S. Postal Services.  He was proud of his Ukrainian heritage and continued to make traditional holiday dishes.  Family was important to him.  He visited his sister and her family in Ukraine and hosted them on trips to the U.S.  He traveled to family reunions and even in his nineties drove himself to birthday and wedding celebrations.

For the last 14 years of his life he lived by himself in the family home in Pennsylvania.  He especially enjoyed his large vegetable garden and sharing the produce with family and friends.  Fiercely independent, he renewed his driver’s license at age 93 and continued an active daily life, under the watchful eyes of his caring neighbors.  

Orest enlisted in the U.S. Army at age 18.  He served on the front lines as a communications lineman in the Korean War, often coming under enemy fire. As a veteran he will be honored with a military detail at his funeral.

The family will receive friends at the Chopyak-Scheider Funeral Home, 326 Prospect St., Binghamton, on Wednesday from 4-7pm where a prayer service (Parastas) will be recited at 6:30pm. A funeral service will be held on Thursday, at 9:30am at the funeral home and at 10am at Sacred Heart Ukrainian Catholic Church, 230 Ukrainian Hill Road, Johnson City, where a Divine Liturgy will be celebrated by the Very Rev. Archpriest Teodor B. Czabala, Jr. Burial will be in the parish cemetery.

In lieu of flowers, kindly make memorial contributions to his church.