Halyna Hudzan would walk a couple blocks to work from her Ukrainian Village home nearly every day.
“She always walked,” her son, Andriy Hudzan, said. “It was pretty cold [Friday], but she always used to say that on a nice weather, no clouds, sunny day, she’ll take a walk, take a breath of fresh air.”
Halyna Hudzan, 66, was on her way to work at Selfreliance Federal Credit Union around 8:50 a.m. Friday when the driver of a sport utility vehicle struck her as she crossed Chicago Avenue at a crosswalk on Oakley Boulevard, her family and Chicago police said.
She suffered multiple injuries and was taken to Stroger Hospital, where she was pronounced dead less than an hour later, according to the Cook County medical examiner’s office, which ruled her death an accident.
Andriy Hudzan said a client of his former attorney witnessed the hit-and-run and immediately gave a description of the driver and car to responding officers. Police say they are looking for the driver of a red 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross who struck Hudzan and continued driving east on Chicago Avenue.
“My mom, she was very joyful, joyful as in, she enjoyed life,” Andriy Hudzan, 38, told the Sun-Times. “She loved my father, she loved me, she loved our family. She always had a positive look on life.”
Police are looking for the driver of a red 2022 Mitsubishi Eclipse Cross with Illinois license plate number DH 30095. On Friday, police say the vehicle struck and killed 66-year-old Halyna Hudzan, who was crossing the street about 8:50 a.m. at Chicago Avenue and Oakley Boulevard in Ukrainian Village.
Chicago Police Department
Halyna Hudzan was married to Father Volodymyr Hudzan, a former priest at St. Nicholas Ukrainian Catholic Church, also a couple blocks from their home and where she was active in community events and sang in the choir.
“It is with deep sadness that we share the tragic news of the untimely passing of Presbytera Halyna Hudzan, the beloved wife of Father Volodymyr Hudzan,” the St. Nicholas Diocese in Chicago for Ukrainians said in a statement.
“We ask for your prayers for the repose of her soul and for the Lord’s comfort and strength for Father Volodymyr and their family during this heartbreaking time.”
The Hudzan family started their lives in Ukraine, where Halyna Hudzan was a head accountant for a bank in the 1990s and her husband a Catholic priest.
Volodymyr Hudzan immigrated to Chicago in 2000. Halyna Hudzan and her son tried to immigrate here in September 2001, but the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks that year delayed their move for another year. Halyna and Volodymyr Hudzan’s daughter, Marta Kindrat, 46, immigrated to Chicago with her husband and three children in 2017 after years of being tied up in the immigration process, Andriy Hudzan said.
Andriy Hudzan has lived with his parents, and the rest of the tight-knit family has remained near each other in Ukrainian Village since moving to the U.S.
“My mother always took the same route” to work, Andriy Hudzan said. “As my father told me [Friday], he kissed her, she kissed him and they said goodbye.”
Halyna Hudzan had worked at Selfreliance Federal Credit Union since 2007, where despite sometimes encountering difficult clients, she kept those episodes to herself and showed up to work every day, her son said.
“She never judged anyone, she never assumed anything. … She tried to always find the best in people, even if there was very little to find,” Andriy Hudzan said, holding back tears.
He added that his family is appreciative of the detectives investigating his mother’s death, and he’s confident there will be justice.
Anyone with information about the crash is urged to contact the Chicago Police Department’s Major Accident Investigation Unit at (312) 745-4521. Anonymous tips can be submitted at cpdtip.com.