Peter Voulgarakis

I remember Lydia at Lane, unfortunately never knew her and had only read about her career in recent years. She was a talented performer and should be recognized as a notable Lane alumni.

Roberta Wiebrecht (Bole)

Dear Peter,

I remember Lydia Tomkiw as very creative and unique. She was proud of her American Indian culture if I recall

correctly.  Gone too soon. It is good for us to remember our classmates that passed.

All Life's Best,

Roberta Wiebrecht- Bole

Liz Staller

Lydia was Ukranian and an artist who was also a known community organizer. She owned a bar that was a venue for other artists to perform and show their talents too. She had a warm and generous heart and my experience of her is that she would never leave anyone behind. She is missed by the many communities she was a part of.

Jill Everett

Lydia always had a mischievous smile,and a very entertaining, bizarre story to tell me , and never failed to quiz me on my news, asking for all the details  and injecting ideas  for all that I was involved in.  Lydia usually called late night USA times and would wake me up , middle of the night in London, ...and the chats always lasted for ages...and would end with stories of 'do you remember when we did that? and another memory would be recalled in great detail , ...Lydia remembered the details, while I had to be reminded of the story! she recalled what I was wearing or exact words someone said to her. She was a true observer of all life , a writer who had built her style  on that quirky eye for details that might escape others.. Her band, Algebra Suicide , was Lydia's spoken word/rapping  poetry set to her ex- husband's Velvet Underground style live guitar and music on synth....They were ahead of their time...and they had a cult following around the world. I met them in Berlin once to see their show, just after the wall came down...it was very special! in an old guard house or some unusual building in a forest full of Berlin art scene folk. Lydia and don had a cult following around the world and still get airplay on alternative radio. . I visited Lydia over the years, and last saw her the year before she died. Such a big heart, and so full of love. How tragic she was taken so soon. When I heard the news of her death I  thought we should organise a Chicago artist's tribute night for her, to really acknowledge her life in the arts and her own body of work, to celebrate  her life as an observer and creator who really lived in the quirky details . 

Nancy LaFever

I still remember one of Lydia's poems by heart after all these years. I wish I could have told her this in person, but I think she knows. I really think she knows.
 

David Cernek

I'm deeply saddened to learn of Lydia's passing.  We met in freshmen biology and always enjoyed bumping into each other over the ensuing years.  The last time I saw her was a surreal night, when we both met David Bowie at Neo's on Clark, ~1980.  I saw Lydia there and she told me that David Bowie just gave her a birthday kiss - I looked over and sure enough, there he was.  Miss you Lydia.