SAMUEL MIKOLASKI [Сава Микалачки] was born in January 1923 in the village of Bashaid, a small, neat village on the road which goes from Belgrade north into Hungary and northeast into Romania. Bashaid was an agricultural village. The Serbian Orthodox Church is still situated across the road from the square. It is architecturally impressive, white, with a tall gilded spire, quite visible from many kilometers away. Bashaid today is a pretty village, well-kept, with whitewashed mud walls separating the houses and gardens, and lovely flower beds at the side and in the front yard of each house.
Sam’s father Nikola was a master shoemaker; his mother Sofia was an accomplished Serbian folk dancer. The family emigrated to Canada in 1927 when Sam was 4 ½ years old and they settled in Toronto.
From a young age, Sam worked with his father to support the family and was never able to complete high school. In his early 20’s was befriended by a professor who recognized his academic potential recommended him for university admission to the University of Western Ontario where he achieved a B.A. Arts with Theological Options in the Biblical Languages, and then later went on to an M.A., Philosophy]; B.D. Honors, University of London; and finally, a D.Phil. University of Oxford, granted for his thesis on the Work of Christ.
Sam has had a distinguished career as a theological professor at several seminaries and universities in the United States and Canada and leadership roles in international outreach including:
· serving as President of a Christian Junior College in Moncton, New Brunswick, Canada, where he led the College to seek a Charter from the government of New Brunswick as an accredited four-year degree granting institution. It is now Crandall University, with an excellent faculty and multiple degree programs.
· During 1994, 1995 and 1997 he lectured in theology in Novi Sad, Yugoslavia. From 1997 to January 2000 he served as president of the San Diego Chapter of the Serbian Unity Congress and as a Trustee of the World Affairs Council of Orange County, California.
· For fifteen years following retirement in 1988 from the Carey Theological College in the University of British Columbia in Vancouver, he taught Christian Theology in California as adjunct professor, including Fuller Theological Seminary.
Following the death of his dear wife Jessie in 2018 at the age of one-hundred, including sixty-eight years of loving marriage, Sam was welcomed to the home of his son Stephen, daughter-in-law Jackie, and their two children Nikolas and Victoria, in Washington, DC.
The congregation of St. Luke have all been a wonderful blessing and a true homecoming for Sam. For him to discover the vibrant Serbian community at St. Luke was tremendous and resulted in several projects including his most recent book “Guardian Serbs” and several published articles. He has always maintained a keen interest in his Serbian Heritage and the community at St. Luke rekindled that fire.
MAY GOD GRANT PROF. SAVA MANY MORE YEARS!
МНОГАЈА И БЛАГАЈА ЉЕТА!