Remembering Elizabeth Shandor
Elizabeth Slepecky Shandor was born October 3, 1920 in Olyphant PA and soon moved to Nanticoke (PA) where her father served as pastor at St. John the Baptist Russian Orthodox Church. The family was transferred to St. Michael’s in St. Clair PA when she was 7 years old. Elizabeth (often called Betty into her 50s) graduated from high school in 1937, attended Wyoming Seminary (college in PA), and served as a WAVE in the U.S. Navy in Washington, DC during World War ll.
Ten years after graduation she married her high school classmate Michael Shandor in their hometown and eventually moved to Silver Spring MD, close to the District, with young children Michael Gregory and Andrea Elizabeth. In 1955 they moved to a rural area in Silver Spring where Nina Maria + (1956 – 1998) was born.
The family, with Greg and Andrea, began to attend the Russian Orthodox Church of St. Nicholas on Church St. in Northwest DC and made it their home church when the parish bought land and built an above-ground temporary basement structure on Massachusetts Ave. NW. They continued the 45-minute drive to church for over 50 years until Elizabeth’s death in 2000 and Michael’s move into a D.C. apartment close to the church.
Mr. and Mrs. Shandor participated in donating their time to the St. Nicholas Building Fund. Elizabeth sold Christmas cards from a catalog, door to door, driving around Montgomery County. She built a healthy return-customer base to continue selling for the Fund until the card firm closed. In the late 1950s, when her youngest was old enough to stand in church with her older sister, Elizabeth joined the St. Nicholas choir under the direction of Nicholas Borodulia. In addition to church services, the choir sang in local church concerts, dinner concerts to benefit St. Nicholas, and at the grand opening of the Kennedy Center in 1971. Singing alto in the choir was Mrs. Shandor’s great joy.
Elizabeth was an officer of the St. Nicholas Sunday School PTA when her children were school aged. She directed the 1961 Yolka (Christmas program) held at Sts. Constantine and Helen’s Greek Church before St. Nicholas had a church hall. It was a great success. Years later when a snowstorm kept the annual Santa Claus at home, Mrs. Shandor took his place so well disguised that few knew who (s)he was.
A few years after the upper structure of St. Nicholas was built and dedicated in 1963, Mrs. Shandor took on the responsibility to bake prosfora for the altar, having learned from her mother living in the church rectory. It was a Saturday morning family project for the first four of eight years to help knead and cut the large wad of dough and then leave Mom to do the baking. Mr. Shandor grew beautiful gladiolas in the family’s garden, so Elizabeth took a flower arranging class to take bouquets to church on Feast Days in the summer. She baked dozens of piroshki for the annual church bazaar, which was held in early December in the church hall before it evolved into the current September event. In 1976 the church bought the Annex and the bazaar was able to expand into the rooms on the first floor. Elizabeth ran a Baba’s Kitchen one year when the bazaar date fell near Halloween so she could try something new. One of her ideas was to bring in a huge pumpkin to “sell guesses” on its weight. At later bazaars she enjoyed a seated position as wine and cheese hostess, greeting customers at the entrance to the hall.
In her 40s Mrs. Shandor took a job outside the house at the local hospital where she worked in Medical Records and later at the Heart Station. She retired at 62 due to health issues. She survived breast cancer from age 75 to almost 80, when she died of a brain aneurism on April 8, 2000. She was grateful to have seen the arrival of the 21st Century.
