Woman Killed in Van Crash Remembered

A San Fernando Valley woman killed in a Nevada van accident was remembered Friday as a generous caregiver whose life revolved around her family.

Leya Romanovskaya, 53, was one of eight people who died Wednesday on a trip meant to be a happy reunion of childhood friends who grew up together in war-torn Belarus and later scattered to various cities across the United States.

Instead, the outing took a devastating turn when the van’s driver apparently dozed off at the wheel on Interstate 15 en route to Las Vegas, authorities said. Romanovskaya’s husband, Marat, and four others were injured in the accident.

Friends and relatives gathered Friday at the couple’s home in Chatsworth to remember a gentle woman who enjoyed gardening and cooking--especially for her four grandchildren.

“She was a beautiful person, the nicest person in the whole world,” said Lana Bobritsky, whose son is married to one of Romanovskaya’s daughters.

Romanovskaya, her husband and their three daughters emigrated from Russia about eight years ago, friends and relatives said. Much of their extended family lives in the San Fernando Valley.

A determined woman who had been a day-care worker in Russia, Romanovskaya set herself the task of learning English and mastering a second career in middle age. She earned a nursing certificate and learned to drive, Bobritsky said.

“It’s a big achievement for a person,” she said.

Last weekend, friends from as far away as New York gathered in California to celebrate Marat Romanovskaya’s 60th birthday and prepare for the Las Vegas trip.

“They are all lifelong friends who settled in various places in the country,” said Mark Schriver, the boyfriend of Romanovskaya’s daughter Lana. “They had a very big party here last weekend.”

They rented a van in Glendale and set out early Wednesday morning. The driver, identified as Yury Shkolnikov, 63, lost control of the vehicle about 30 miles south of Las Vegas, the Nevada Highway Patrol said. The van plunged down a steep highway median and flipped several times, ejecting 12 passengers.

Marat Romanovskaya was listed in fair condition Friday at University Medical Center in Las Vegas, a nursing supervisor said. Leya Romanovskaya, a nurse’s assistant, had worked at the Jewish Home for the Aging in Reseda, where she was remembered as an empathetic woman who felt a kinship with patients, many of them fellow immigrants.

“Because she was from Russia, there was an instant connection with many of our residents,” said Shelly Ryan, the facility’s chief of human resources. “All our staff and residents are terribly devastated today.”

The Jewish Home for the Aging will hold a memorial service Monday at the synagogue of its Eisenberg Village campus, located at 18855 Victory Blvd.

The service, to begin at 10 a.m., is open to Romanovskaya’s family and friends.