Fedora “Fay” Kalencikova Hvizdak

Branford -- Fedora “Fay” Kalencikova Hvizdak, 97, a national figure skating champion of Czechoslovakia who in later life, went on to coach some women skaters on the U.S. Olympic skating and hockey teams as well as special needs athletes for the Special Olympics, died Jan. 6 at Yale New Haven Hospital after a brief illness.

She went to her eternal rest with Jesus Christ in heaven with her son, Peter Hvizdak, of Branford, Connecticut holding her hand.

Fedora, who lived for much of her adult life in Old Greenwich, Connecticut before moving to Branford, was the daughter of the late Rudolf Kalen and Margaret Stno Kalen of Brooklyn, NY. She was pre-deceased by her three husbands, Slovak-born opera tenor Rudolf Petrak, engineer Andrew Hvizdak, Slovak journalist Eugene Kalman, and her sister Clara Kalencikova of Slovakia.

In addition to her son, Peter and his wife, Kate, of Branford, Connecticut, she is survived by another son, Evan Hvizdak and his wife, Julie, of Parker, CO, three granddaughters, Tanya Hvizdak, Tori Hvizdak and Brooke Hvizdak, three greatgrandchildren, a stepdaughter, Sonja Bartak of Sydney, Australia, and relatives in the Slovak Republic and Mexico.

Born on June 15, 1923 in Nove Mesto nad Vahom, Czechoslovakia, Fedora was a devoted mother who was passionate about figure skating and excelled at it. Before World War II, she competed in the European and World Figure Skating Championships. During the war, she participated in antiNazi activities. Later, during the Cold War, as a person fluent in Slovak, German and English, she assisted the U.S. State Department in clandestine activities before immigrating to the United States in 1948.

Before retiring at age 77, Fedora was an instructor at figure skating clubs in Connecticut and New York. She said that her greatest accomplishment was coaching children with special needs. In 2016, a competition skating rink in Slovakia was named in her honor.

Fedora’s family would like to express their appreciation and love to the staff at The Hearth at Gardenside in Branford for the excellent care she received during her assisted-living stay and to the medical staff at Yale New Haven Hospital’s East Pavilion 6-7 who provided much tender loving care and empathy on the last leg of her journey to heaven.

There will be a private memorial service and burial in Old Greenwich in the future.

As teaching figure skating to students with special needs was one of Fay Hvizdak’s proudest accomplishments, in lieu of flowers, donations can be made out to the “Fedora ‘Fay’ Hvizdak Figure Skating Scholarship Fund” to benefit children with special needs and mailed to: The Fedora “Fay” Hvizdak Figure Skating Scholarship Fund, Greenwich Skating Club, P.O. Box 596, Greenwich, CT 06836. More information can be found at greenwichskatingclub.org