Grachik Khurshudyan, a devoted husband, father, grandfather and brother, died early Thursday morning after a five-month battle with cancer. Though his life was cut too short, he packed a lot into his 72 years. He grew up poor in Odessa, Ukraine, Grachik’s father dying in prison shortly after he was born.
But a hard upbringing never dampened his constantly cheery and optimistic nature. Grachik met the love of his life, Inna, when he was 14, and at the height of anti-Semitism in the Soviet Republic, he married a Jewish woman, and they had one son, Arthur. He built a life for them with his smarts.
He was a civil engineer working on his PhD in Ukraine when he saw an opportunity to immigrate his young family to the United States. He was really proud to be an American, and he loved his work here. Even as multiple rounds of chemotherapy sapped him of energy, he worked until his dying day, insisting on finishing an important project for Duke Energy in Seneca, South Carolina, where he’s lived for the past 22 years.
Odessa is known for its humor, and Grachik never lost that piece of his home, known for telling slightly inappropriate jokes in both Russian and English. Every morning, he mixed cold Coca-Cola with coffee and creamer, his signature drink for the past 30-plus years. He loved music and had an uncanny ability to whistle a song with near-perfect pitch.
More than anything, he loved his family and found a way to show them every day, always putting everyone else’s needs above his own. He remarried after Inna passed away, and his wife, Liudmyla, brought him so much happiness at the end of his life. Her family quickly became his own, and he welcomed her grandson, Tyson, into his home, helping him with homework each night in the same way he did for his own granddaughter.
He was the kind of co-worker who looked forward to celebrating birthdays each month, and he never said no when someone asked for his expertise on a project. He was the kind of family man who wanted to handle everyone’s taxes for them, even though he was he busiest one. He was the kind of person who would go to an Usher concert to make his granddaughter happy.
Four years and 12 days after Inna died, he’s now been reunited with her. Funeral services will be conducted at 4:00 PM, Saturday, February 23, 2019, at Davenport Funeral Home Chapel with burial to follow at Evergreen Memorial Gardens. The family will receive friends from 3:00-4:00 PM, Saturday, prior to the service, at Davenport Funeral Home.
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