The funeral of well-known adopted Todmordian Wolodymyr (Walter) Kecun will be held on Monday at St Joseph’s church in the town (10.30am).
Mr Kecun, 86, of Pine Road, died peacefully at home earlier this month after a valiant battle against cancer.
He leaves his wife, two sons, Myron and Julian, a daughter, Mrs Motria Christine Skelton, five grandchildren and five great-grandchildren as well as his brother Roman, who lives in Ukraine.
Mr and Mrs Kecun had been married for 64 years and, having both lived in Germany during the war, they met in Nottingham where Mr Kecun was working as an interpreter.
His wife to be, who has lived in Todmorden since 1947, met him while visiting the city with a friend. Mr Kecun always said for him, it was love at first sight and from that moment he knew she was the one for him.
Mr Kecun worked in various mills including Fothergill and Harvey in Littleborough and John Cockcroft and Sons in Todmorden.
For many years Mr Kecun was the secretary of Todmorden Ukrainian Club, which has since disbanded. Only a handful of Ukrainian men and women who came to Todmorden in the 1940s now remain.
Mrs Skelton said her father had a love of oil painting but more recently, at the age of 82, had been bought a computer by his wife and used it to contact people across the world via Skype and email.
He also had a Facebook page.
“He took to it like a duck to water,” his daughter said.
Family flowers only, donations are welcome to Cancer Research.