Raymond singer composes songs for Ukraine

By Masha Yurkevich

There is no one word to describe it, but if tried, there might be a few. Destroyed. Fear. Despair. The war in Ukraine is no secret to anyone. To us, it is far away, and it is difficult to just stand up and do something. But singer/songwriter Marilyn Redegeld Ross of Raymond has found a way.

Singer/songwriter Marilyn Redegeld Ross of
Raymond has written and recorded songs
supporting the people of Ukraine during the
invasion by Russian forces. She's hoping that
the songs will be picked up and played by
radio stations across Europe.
SUBMITTED PHOTO   

Redegeld, originally from Shrewsbury, Massachusetts, graduated from Framingham High School. Her first instrument was the violin through the orchestra program at school. She also loved singing and joined the school chorus beginning in middle school. In high school, she was practicing the violin and singing every day and decided it was time to choose between the two.

“But before I made my formal exit from the violin after learning that the orchestra program was being canceled, I pleaded with the music director that he allow me to perform a solo in the music concert,” says Redegeld. “He was reluctant but decided that I could do it on the condition that he would give me private sessions to practice for it.”

According to Redegeld, she says that she was fortunate that her school offered music theory and that she took two semesters of it which help her in her songwriting today.

“When it was time to think about college, I had a discussion with my music teacher and he said it’s very hard to make it as a singer and that I shouldn’t expect to make money at it,” says Redegeld. “I think that is why I did not consider it my primary study in college although sometimes I wish I had gone to Berkeley College of Music in Boston.”

Redegeld continued singing and taking classical voice lessons. She was also very interested in poetry and kept a notebook of poems where she would write about life, thinking that she could turn them into songs.

“My mother played the organ and bought a synthesizer keyboard which was new technology and I taught myself to play since I could read music,” says Redegeld. “My father was a singer and formed a group to play in nursing homes for twenty years and he would have me come as a guest to play violin or sing. My aunt played the pipe organ in churches for 45 years and would invite me as guest soloist. I
also sang for weddings and was in the Heritage Choral and in the chorus at Framingham Union College and Immaculata College in Pennsylvania.” At Immaculata college, she studied violin a little more and

also took piano lessons off and on.

“My mother was very supportive raising me as a single mother paying for my violin and singing lessons all through school and driving me to lessons and taking me to concerts and Broadway shows in Boston, which I’m very grateful for,” says Redegeld.

After having a family and her four boys became adults, Redegeld had time to start focusing on her goals again. She never stopped singing and does it every day. She sings everything from opera to jazz to rock.

“Before my mother died from breast cancer, she told me she hoped all my dreams would come true. And I took that to heart,” says Redegeld. “It’s never too late to make your dreams come true. I decided if I wasn’t going to make it as a singer maybe I can make it as a songwriter and sing my own songs.”

Last fall, Redegeld began writing songs starting with lyrics, putting in a melody and then adding harmonies with chord progressions. She then began searching for other songwriters to collaborate with and found a 20-year-old college student from Brunswick named Cole Orr. In late February the unthinkable happened; Ukraine was invaded by neighboring Russia.

“I have a friend from Ukraine who has family there so I would always ask him questions,” says

Redegeld. I was very alarmed by the disturbing nature of the attack and decided to write my first song for Ukraine called ‘Heart of Ukraine.’ I then realized there are so many angles to the effects of the war on the Ukrainian people and decided I needed to write more songs. So I wrote With the Light of Love which is about Ukrainians fighting for the right reasons: to defend their people, their country and their freedom and that the light of love - God and heaven - is watching over them.”

In collaboration with co-writer Orr, she also wrote “Up So High,” a song for President Volodymyr Zelensky and all the Ukrainian defenders that they will rise up and go down in history. Orr also teamed up with Redegeld on two other songs so far: “The Essence of You” and “Only Heaven Knows.”

All these songs and more can be found on Redegeld’s YouTube channel, Marilyn Redegeld Ross.

After several sessions in the recording studio, the songs are getting ready to be formally released.

“I played the synthesizer/keyboard for two of the songs, ‘Heart of Ukraine’ and ‘With the Light of Love,’” says Redegeld. “I also envisioned a cello playing in these two songs and was fortunate to find master cellist Ben Noyes to add his magic to them.”

Redegeld has two more songs for Ukraine. One is called “Back For You” about President Zelensky telling his wife that she needs to be safe and stay away from the war as he promises that he will be back for her when it is over. The other one is called “War Criminal” and one other ready to go to the studio.

“I feel like my songs are a gift to the Ukrainian people from God and I am the instrument to get it to them. It’s sad that I need the war to continue in order for people to be interested in my songs, but I think the war has gone on long enough that the songs have real meaning to a lot of people,” says Redegeld. “My challenge now is getting this music to them and continuing my mission and finish my songs for Ukraine in the recording studio. Ukrainians are beautiful people who just want to live free and have a quality of life like we enjoy here. They have suffered and witnessed unimaginable horrors that seem unthinkable today. I will continue to support Ukraine until the war is over. As my ancestors are from Europe and Finland, it’s the least I can do for my fellow humans.” <

 

Ukrainian family fleeing invasion, war finds refuge with Windham couple

Former Windham High School foreign exchange student
Kyrylo Perederli from Ukraine returned to Windham on
July 14 with his mother, Olene Kriutchenko, and father, 
Andrli Perederli, to escape their war-torn city. They were
invited to stay and live with Kyrylo's host family, WHS 
teacher Pam Carter, and her husband, Bill Allen, until they
feel safe to return to Ukraine.
PHOTO BY LORRAINE GLOWCZAK 

By Lorraine Glowczak

When 16-year-old foreign exchange student Kyrylo Perederii arrived in Windham in 2018 to attend Windham High School, he never envisioned returning with his mother, Olena Kriutchenko, and father, Andrii Perederii due to life-altering circumstances.

But that is what happened to Kyrylo, now 20, and his parents, who lived in Melitopol, Ukraine, one of the first cities to be invaded by Russian armed forces earlier this year.

Fortunately, Krylylo and his parents kept in contact with his Windham host family, Pam Carter, a WHS teacher, and her husband, Bill Allen. The communication between the families continued in earnest during the early days of the war.

“When we decided it was time for us to leave Melitopol and we were trying to figure how we would do that, we asked Pam and Bill if Krylylo could stay with them while we were in transition and found a safe place until the war was over,” Olena said. “But Pam and Bill offered their home to all of us. We are very grateful for their kindness in allowing the three of us to stay together.”

However, the decision to leave their home bore relentless challenges.

Before the invasion, Kyrylo was attending Erasmus+ program, a university student exchange curriculum in Turkey. The program began in the fall of 2021 and ended in February. He arrived home on Feb. 12. However, just before his arrival, he started to receive alarming texts from friends in other countries. 

 

“My friends were asking me how I was doing, and I had no idea what they were talking about,” said Kyrylo, who has known Ukraine to be a sovereign nation since birth. “We had Ukrainian tanks passing through our streets in 2013 when the war started in the Eastern part of Ukraine. However, we saw no military activity near our city this time, so we didn’t think it was an actual menace.”

When one friend told him that she had heard men 18 years old and older would be called to serve the Ukrainian forces, Kyrylo and his parents became alarmed, and the uncertainty began.

The day after receiving these alarming texts, Russia started a full-scale invasion on Feb. 24.

“The next day, on Feb. 25, we were without electricity and running water and there weren’t cell phone connections for long periods at a time,” Olena said. “We didn’t know how our relatives were doing, they lived on the other side of the city. A lot of tanks were rolling through the city, bombing buildings. Going outside was unsafe, and we had no clue how long we’d have to stay inside our home.”

Olena said that looting became a problem, and food was becoming scarce.

“Luckily, Dad went shopping for food just before the invasion, so we had something to eat for a while,” Kyrylo said. “But when we ran out, we had to stand in long lines to purchase foods from the businesses that officially remained opened.”

Olena said that the Russians helped the shoplifters by ensuring that the “looting happened in an orderly fashion.”

During these early war-torn days, the uncertainty increased, and Kyrylo experienced an epiphany.

“Everything I was working toward, things that I thought were valuable, didn’t mean a thing anymore,” he said. “My plans to make my city a better place didn’t matter, no one will care about being proactive or volunteering now that everything is destroyed. When I made that realization, I just started to cry.”

Leaving family, friends, and their cat and dog added more heartbreak to this crisis, and it took extra strength knowing that the travels to the U.S. would be wrought with more challenges and intimidation. They prepared the best they could by deleting all calls, texts and social media posts that would raise suspicion. 

 

“To leave the city, we had to go through a lot of checkpoints,” Olena said. “You experience humiliation and interrogation by Russian officials, and often you never know if you will come out alive or what will happen next.”

Kyrylo and his parents described intimidating and degrading incidents Ukrainians experienced while crossing the checkpoints.

“There were no toilets and very few bushes to hide behind, so people went to the bathroom at the side of the road without getting too close to the land mines,” Olena said. “People had to wait in line for long periods in 100-degree weather, and Russian soldiers often took personal items that included money, laptops, cell phones, and jewelry without explanation.”

Repeatedly, Ukrainians were asked to remove their clothing so officers could inspect tattoos and hidden items that would favor Ukraine.

The family’s long and risky travel to safety, which began on June 7 and cost the family $1,000, eventually led them to Turkey on June 18 where they stayed with friends for three weeks while they waited for the proper paperwork to live temporarily in the U.S. and at the home of Carter and Allen.

Once the paperwork was filed and all was in order, Krylylo and his parents arrived in Windham on July 14, five weeks after leaving the city they love and call home. But gratitude is their focus.

“It was an amazing feeling to finally reach where we were trying to all this time and actually with people who have helped us so much,” Olena said.

Now that they are here, they are anxious to find work and be contributing members of the Carter and Allen household but must wait once again for the proper paperwork before they can begin working legally.

Krylylo continues to work on his college degree through online coursework while Olena and Andrii, a builder by trade, work to help the Carters with their house and camp projects.

“We always wanted to travel more after we retired, and visiting Maine was at the top of our list,” said Olena, a teacher. “But it was never in our plans to do it this way.”

They were very clear about their next steps and goals.

“To find a job, help people in our country, and return home as soon as the war is over,” Olena and Andrii said.

For others, like Carter and Allen, who may be interested in helping a family from war-torn Ukraine, you can do so if they legally reside in the United States. They can apply to sponsor Ukrainian citizens and their immediate family members if they can prove they can financially support them for up to a two-year period. For more information, contact the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services Department’s “Uniting for Ukraine” website: https://www.uscis.gov/ukraine.

Individuals may also contribute financial donations. Although there are many venues to choose from, one option to consider is United24, https://u24.gov.ua/, a website launched by Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy to support Ukraine. <

Windham resident turning 100 in September shares tales from her life

By Ed Pierce 

Else Brown of Windham turns 100 on Sept. 9 and
has survived war, starvation, refugee camps, 
extreme poverty, separation from her daughter and
the death of her husband during her lifetime. She
remains in good spirits and has devoted much of
her life to helping others. PHOTO BY ED PIERCE 

Life was never easy for Else Brown of Windham, but she made the most of it and next month, she will celebrate her 100th birthday.

Born in what was then Konigsberg (now called Kaliningrad) in Prussia on Sept. 9, 1922, Brown survived a Russian invasion of her city, World War II, extreme poverty, starvation, life in a crowded refugee camp, learning a new language, emigrating to America, separation from her daughter, and the death of her husband. Through it all, she has retained a unique sense of humor, an indomitable spirit, and a strong desire to help others who are in need.

She was the only child of parents who had moved from a farm to Konigsberg when her father had landed a job caring for horses. That was shortly before the outbreak of World War II and her life suddenly changed when Russian troops seized Konigsberg, the easternmost German city located between Poland and Lithuania. Her mother fled to live with her sister near Berlin and Else went to live out the war in a refugee resettlement camp in Germany.

Life in the refugee camp was harsh and both money and food were scarce. Refugees were so poor that they did what they had to do to survive, including stealing food when opportunities were presented rather than starve to death. She never forgot that feeling of poverty and to this day has a soft spot in her heart for those less fortunate than she is.

After the war ended in 1945, Brown went to work for a U.S. military family stationed in Germany, first as a babysitter and then as the maid in charge of caring for the household. It was while working that job, she met her husband, Lawrence Brown, a U.S. Army staff sergeant who was a friend of the family she worked for.

“I thought he was unusual but good looking,” Brown said. 

The couple married in 1955 and her husband adopted Else’s mentally challenged daughter. In 1957, her husband was transferred by the military back to the U.S. but wasn’t allowed to take Else’s daughter because of immigration rules. She was left behind in a facility for mentally challenged children and remains under care in Germany today at age 76. That enforced separation still hurts Brown years later.

Now living in America, Brown’s husband was discharged from the U.S. Army and then enlisted in the U.S. Air Force. Else slowly learned English and got a job working at the Base Exchange at Hanscom Air Force Base in Massachusetts. 

“I wanted to work but my English was not so good,” Else said. “I was assigned to work in the military uniform section. A major came in and asked for a muffler and I told him that we didn’t sell them and that he needed to go to the auto repair shop on base instead. A few minutes later he came back with the manager, and I was told it wasn’t the muffler for a car he was looking for. The manager said this time I really did it, the muffler that the major was looking for was a scarf. I told him, “Why don’t they just call it a scarf then?”

The Browns then moved to Maryland when Lawrence was transferred to a post in Washington, D.C. Else found work at Raleigh’s, a fashionable men’s and women’s clothing store in Washington. She spent 13 years handling the accounting books for Raleigh’s and says she loved her work there.

After 46 years of living in Maryland, the couple thought about moving to Florida after visiting there on vacation. In 2001, while preparing to move, Else’s husband, who was already in Florida looking for places for them, called her and asked if she would go to Windham to help his brother, who lived here and was very sick.

“It was a bad situation,” she said. “He had about 40 cats and his house was really a mess inside. There were cats and cat litter everywhere. It took me a while to get it all cleaned up.”

Then came another blow for Else when she received a phone call that her husband was in the hospital in Tampa and was dying of cancer. 

“I think now that he knew he was dying, and he sent me to Windham where his brother was,” she said. “Lawrence died and a year later I bought a trailer home and have lived here for 20 years.”

Else took up crocheting and started making blankets for friends and for veterans and firefighters when she had time. Once she crocheted 26 blankets for veterans in wheelchairs to use and drove away quickly from the Windham Veterans Center after they were brought inside by a worker there.

“I drove off because I didn’t want them to know who made them for them,” she said. “I didn’t do it for the glory, I did it because I wanted to.”

Over the years, she’s also crocheted quilts, snowmen, and other household items for her friends working at Windham Town Hall.

With her eyesight failing and her hearing not being very good, Else stopped driving just a year ago at age 98 and isn’t able to crochet anymore. She now has help and transportation thanks to her caregiver and friend, Rose Milliken of Windham.

According to Else, Milliken is kind and a throwback to days long ago.

“Where I was born, everybody knew everybody and helped each other,” she said. “People are so different now and they are more about themselves and what they can have rather than being about how they can help others.”

Brown says she isn’t dwelling much about her upcoming birthday and turning 100.

“I don’t really care about having a birthday cake or a birthday party,” she said. “Of course, I’m always looking for a man.” <

Editor's note: An effort is underway to send Else Brown 100 birthday cards for her 100th birthday on Sept. 9. The public can mail the cards to Else Brown c/o Rose Milliken, 45 Pope Road, Windham, Maine 04062.