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Kristia was born in New York City to a father of Italian descent and a mother of Ukrainian descent who immigrated to America from Germany. She was soon blessed with a younger brother, Jon, and they grew up in upstate New York in close proximity to West Point.
Jon and Kristia grew up listening to their maternal grandparents’ stories of their horror living under Communism in Ukraine from the 1920’s through 1930’s, and then totalitarianism in Germany during the late 1930’s and 1940’s. Their family instilled a love of history, reading, and learning in both siblings. In order to teach them history in a creative and memorable way, their mother dressed up Kristia and Jon in historical period costumes, and had them act out the historical events as she narrated the tale.
Kristia graduated from Columbia Union College in Takoma Park, Maryland in the spring of 2002 with a B.S. degree in biology and a minor in chemistry, and with the honor of being senior class president. Jon also attended Columbia Union College, and graduated in December 2004 with a B.A. in psychology and a double minor in history and forensic psychology.
After his college graduation, Jon proudly enlisted in the United States Army and became a medic in the 10th Mountain Division. Kristia supported and was grateful for his service. The worst nightmare came true for Kristia and her family on the evening of February 27, 2007, when they were informed that Jon had been killed earlier that day in Baghdad, Iraq when the armored Humvee he was a passenger in was struck by a roadside bomb. Kristia is committed to serving and protecting her country in every way she can, thus ensuring her brother’s memory is honored.
Horseback riding, painting, and visiting places in America that she has never been to before are some of Kristia’s hobbies. Her future plans are to be a wife and stay-at-home mom, and to instill the same love of learning and country in her own children as her mother had done for her and Jon.
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