No warzone for these newlywed Valentines

Stephen and Victoria Krysalka have been married only four months, so they are still on their proverbial honeymoon.

But those who know their backgrounds — Victoria was born in Russia and Stephen is a fourth-generation Ukrainian — are tempted to pose the obvious question. 

“They ask us: ‘Do y’all fight like they do?’’’ Victoria said. “We get that all the time. We just say we are proof that the Russians and Ukrainians can get along.’’

February marks the 11th year since the beginning of the Russo-Ukrainian War. Three years ago this month, Russia’s invasion of Ukraine escalated into Europe’s biggest armed conflict since World War II.

It’s difficult to imagine the Macon newlyweds, who are both 31, ever quarreling. They are quite the lovebirds. Who knows? They could even be used to broker a peace deal between the two countries.

“We just pray they can work it out and come to love each other like she and I do,’’ Stephen said.

Victoria was living in an orphanage in southwest Russia when Michael and Jerilyn Leverett adopted her on her sixth birthday and swept her away to a new life in America. 

That was 25 years ago this year. She arrived in the U.S., appropriately enough, on the Fourth of July in 2000.

Victoria was born with a birth defect that left her with two toes on her right foot, four on her left foot and four fingers on each hand. As a child, she underwent multiple surgeries, and she now uses a service dog, a German shepherd named Buddy, to help with her balance.

Her parents were high school sweethearts and married in 1992. Jerilyn has a form of muscular dystrophy and has endured a lifetime of surgeries, braces, casts and wheelchairs.

She was uncertain she would be able to bear children. Because she and her husband both had careers working with disabled people, they were devoted to adopting a handicapped child. 

Michael is the executive director of Disability Connections, a non-profit in Macon that assists people with a wide range of disabilities by offering community resources and opportunities. Jerilyn has been a mainstay at Disability Connections, and Victoria has been working there with her parents since 2016.

Stephen has been a mechanic at Walsh Honda for the past two years. His mother, Myra, died when he was 6, and his father, Stephen Jr., died in 2015.

His grandfather, Rev. Stephen Krysalka Sr., was a first-generation American whose parents immigrated from Ukraine and settled in Pittsburgh. Krysalka and his wife, Juanita, proudly flew the Ukrainian flag at their Macon home on Riverview Road and were active in the Slovic Association of Middle Georgia and the Ukrainian Association of Georgia. The Krysalka family also was instrumental in bringing the Ukrainian swim team to train in Macon in July 1996 for two weeks before the Summer Olympics in Atlanta. 

Victoria met Stephen when they were students at Macon’s Woodfield Academy. She was 11. He was six months younger. In those days, everyone called him by his middle name – Roger – because his father and grandfather both went by Stephen.

“I always had a crush on Victoria,’’ Stephen said. “I thought she was sweet and beautiful. She was very kind. I chased her around on the playground.’’

He never caught her.

“I knew he liked me,’’ Victoria said. “He was always smiling when he was around me. He gave me a Valentine. But he was my best friend, and I didn’t want to ruin that. So we were just friends.’’

Although they never dated, they stayed in touch, even after Victoria left Woodfield and was home-schooled. Two years ago, she reached out to ask if he could help her with one of her clients at Disability Connections.

After almost 20 years, Cupid’s arrows finally began to find their mark.

Their first date was Oct. 12, 2023. They went to the Georgia National Fair in Perry. A week later, he asked if she would attend a Halloween office party with him.

“I was looking for someone who was devoted to God,’’ Victoria said. “I knew he had a heart of gold. He had been a caregiver to his grandparents.’’

Stephen checked all the boxes. His grandparents were a huge influence on his life. Stephen Krysalka Sr. had come from a Catholic family before his parents began attending the Ukrainian Orthodox Church in Pittsburgh, and his mother had hoped he would become a priest.

During World War II, he was sent to Camp Wheeler in Macon,   where he met Juanita. After the war, he became a Baptist preacher, serving more than a half-century in the ministry. He was ordained in 1950 at East Side Baptist on Church Street in Macon. Juanita was a pastor’s wife for 53 years, teaching Sunday School and singing in the choir. She died in 2014. Her husband was 101 when he passed away in 2019.

Victoria had strong church ties, too. Her uncle, Macon-native Mo Leverett, founded Desire Street Ministries in New Orleans. Her maternal grandfather, the late Tommy Jones, was pastor at Vineville Baptist for 17 years and Wesleyan Drive Baptist for 11 years. He also served as president of the Home Mission Board of the Southern Baptist Convention.

Her grandmother, Barbara Jones, has a family farm in Monroe County and Victoria said it is her “favorite place in the world.’’ 

It is also where her future husband proposed on the front steps of the house last May. They married five months later at her grandfather’s former church, Wesleyan Drive Baptist.

Victoria said they wanted to have a small wedding. The attendance somewhat took care of itself after they selected Oct. 19 as their wedding day, bucking the time-honored Southern taboo of getting married during football season.

“It was the night of the Georgia-Texas game,’’ Victoria said, laughing. “Some people were not happy about that.’’

They now live in the house next to her parents and just down the street from Ingleside Baptist, where they attend church.

Their friends are welcome to bring up the unique Russian-Ukrainian nuptials, but the newlyweds figure their marriage already has been battle-tested. 

After all, they bought their house and have been renovating it together.

“That’s one way to build a relationship,’’ she said. “It needed a lot of work. We had to do the floors four times. But we got through it, and that’s what matters.’’