Yaroslav Ilnitsky Obituary (1975 - 2020)

Yaroslav Ilnitsky, 45, of Indianola, passed away on Friday, October 16, 2020 at Iowa Methodist Medical Center in Des Moines. Funeral services for Yaroslav will be held at 12:00pm on Saturday October 24, 2020 at the International Christian Church in Indianola. A visitation will be held from 6:00-8:00pm on Friday, October 23, 2020 at the church. Interment will follow services at I.O.O.F Cemetery in Indianola. Slavic was born July 3, 1975 in Krivoi Rog, Ukraine to Piotr and Yekaterina Ilnitsky. He was the third of seven children. At age 2, his family moved to Estonia, where persecution against Christians was not as hard as Ukraine. Slavic was 12 years old when the "Iron Curtain" opened and the first refugee families were allowed to immigrate out of the communist system. Upon their arrival in America, Slavic and his family resided in Sacramento California for the first five years. They relocated to Lincoln Nebraska in 1993, where they stayed for over a year. His father Peter found a job for Slavic and himself in Des Moines, Iowa. They bought a house on Douglas Avenue in Des Moines. In 1994 the rest of the family moved to Iowa, where they became very close friends with the Pedashow family. Slavic started working for Des Moines Metro Authority. At 18 years old, he bought his first semi-truck and hired a driver who could travel 48 states for him. On one of those trips he was stuck without a load in Portland Oregon for the weekend. That weekend, on May 10, 1996 he went to Bellevue Washington to spend the weekend with acquaintances of his driver. It was there, that he met his future loving wife, Zhanna Romanyuk. On October 5, 1996, they were married. Slavic was 21 and Zhanna was 18. One year later, their first child Vita was born. This brought a permanent tag to him - Slavic became "father". After Vita, came the rest of the children; Salena, Vadim, Svetlana (Lana), Milana, Slavic (who goes by Jr.), and Isaac. In all of the years Slavic was trucking, he always loved his job, and would not trade it for anything. In 2009, he finally had enough confidence, and support from his wife, to open his own authority. ZSI Transport Company was born. By that time he had learned how to fix about everything related to trucks and trailers, and became his own mechanic. Even with his busy work schedule, he always found the time to help out the church with construction. Slavic knew the price of hardship. He always helped anyone who was in need. Many times he would put his business and family aside to go help others, but in light he made every day a vacation with Zhanna and his kids. In his last two years, he and Zhanna devoted their time to missionary work in Mexico. On his second trip, was able to take his children, Vadim and Svetlana on their very first mission trip. He was looking forward to being able to do more mission trips. He fell in love with spreading the gospel. On May 31, on Zhanna's birthday, Slavic was admitted to the hospital with Covid-19. His family hoped and prayed that he would be home for Father's Day and his birthday. Finally, on October 5, their 24th anniversary, Zhanna was able to come to the hospital and spend three days with him. On October 8, he was released to go home. He only spent one week at home with his family and friends. On October 14, an ambulance was called and it was realized that he had suffered extensive damage from the virus. Two days later, on October 16, 2020, he unexpectedly went home to be with the Lord. Slavic leaves a legacy of love and integrity with his family and those who knew him. He left behind wonderful memories as a loving husband and father. We are grateful for each and every day we got to see his glowing smile, and for the lessons we learned and all the jokes we shared. Slavic is survived by his wife Zhanna, children: Vita, Salena, Vadim, Svetlana, Milana, Slavic, and Isaac, his brothers; Ivan (Elena), Leonid (Vera), and Ted (Veronika), his sisters: Tatiana (Anatoliy) Panasyuk, Galina (David) Ray, and Olga (Ryan) McHone, and a cousin, Michael (Ludmila) Ilnitsky. He was preceded in death by his parents Piotr and Yekaterina, grandparents: Peter and Nadezhda Babichenko, and Ivan and Ephrosinia Ilnitsky, uncles: Fiodor and Leonid, his aunt Nadezhda, and cousin Nadiya. Memorials can be made to Zhanna Ilnitsky.