“I believe life needs to be purposeful and meaningful,” said SOAR instructor Mel Chudnof, Ph.D. “I want to make the world a better place. I get so frustrated when I see things going on which bother me. I can’t sit on my hands and be aggravated. Inaction is not an option.”

Being a SOAR member, committee member, and instructor since 2012—and now one of SOAR’s newly installed members of the board of directors—are among the ways Chudnof is making a difference in the lives of others. “I am honored to be on the board. SOAR been a very important force in my life.”

Chudnof and his wife Nena have two children, Jenni and Dan, and four grandchildren, who all live nearby. In addition to taking care of two of their grandchildren, 4 and 7 years old, two days a week, the Chudnofs plan vacations with their children and grandchildren.

“We’ve taken one or two trips a year,” said Chudnof. One trip included Philadelphia and then  “…the east coast and whale watching on the coast of Massachusetts. On the way back we went to the Baseball Hall of Fame because my grandson loves baseball. We’ve been to Washington D.C., and Mammoth Caves.

The trips always include some type of educational opportunity such as a museum or a history lesson. “We are teachers, he explains. “The kids always talk about it as a great experience.”

Chudnof served as Professor of Psychology and Social Work for 43 years at the Auburn Hills campus of Oakland Community College. He also worked part-time in private practice for 30 years. Nena spent her career teaching elementary school and gifted and talented students in West Bloomfield. The couple has been married 55 years and live in West Bloomfield. They both were born and raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, and came to Michigan in 1967 to attend graduate school.

Chudnof spends much of his time now researching and discovering his ancestry. In 2005, Chudnof and Nena travelled to Ukraine to see where his father and ancestors came from. SOAR members perhaps remember Chudnof’s course about his trip to Ukraine, he also wrote about it in a JewishGen.org article.

“My father came here in 1919 as a child after the Russian Revolution and WWI,” said Chudnof. “My dad used to tell me there was a village called Chudnov in Ukraine. I didn’t believe him. He was a jokester and I thought he was pulling my leg. When he also told me that Chudnov means extraordinary, I didn’t believe him.

“When we went back to the village where my dad was born, I found out that both these things were true: The village is named Chudnov and it does mean extraordinary, or special.”

The Chudnofs also visited the city of Zhitomir, about 30 miles from the village of Chudnov, where they went to the Regional Archive Building. Here, in a 1903 village record book, Chudnof found documentation of his ancestors beginning with his great-great grandfather in 1850 and ending with his grandparents’ wedding in 1909.