With faith in Christ and hope in the resurrection, we share news of the repose of Barbara Drillock. Barbara fell asleep in the Lord in the early morning of June 9, 2026, at the age of 86.
Barbara was a beloved member of the St. Vladimir’s Seminary community. She faithfully served the Seminary for decades as a staff member, alongside her husband David Drillock, Emeritus Professor of Liturgical Music at the Seminary and longtime Chair of the OCA’s Department of Liturgical Music and Translations.
Barbara (Gorodovich) Drillock was born October 15, 1939, in Flushing, NY, to Rita (Timoshuk) and Anthony Gorodovich. A proud New Yorker through and through, Barbara loved growing up in Queens and working in the city, and those roots stayed with her all her life. As a young woman, she worked in the payroll department at Equitable Life supporting senior leadership. After Barbara married her husband David in 1962, she was asked by Prof. Sergius Verhovskoy, the Provost at St. Vladimir’s Seminary, to leave her job in Manhattan and come work alongside David at the Seminary. Without hesitation she agreed, never looked back, and devoted the rest of her career to serving the Church. For forty-two years she served as receptionist, in accounts receivable, as kitchen manager, and as organizer of special events.
Her devotion to the Seminary was exemplified in small ways every day, often unnoticed and unrecognized—whether it was multiple trips every week to Costco to save the Seminary money on groceries, cleaning areas as if they were her own home, or quietly making sure every student, guest, and visiting clergyman left the Seminary’s table well fed. She never hesitated to help, and she watched over the community with fierce devotion, care, and love.
“Barbara was a much loved, modest, energetic, and important member of the Seminary staff for decades,” recalled her longtime colleague on staff Ted Bazil. “She shared with her beloved husband Dave and her wonderful children total commitment to the operation and growth of the school. Barbara's unselfish, often unseen, dedication to all facets of work at St. Vladimir's Seminary serves as a profound example of Christian humility and sacrifice to generations of trustees, faculty, staff, students, and community members. We pray that God will reward this remarkable woman with the gift of peace in His Kingdom.”
In grateful recognition of many years of dedicated service to the ministry of theological education at St. Vladimir’s Seminary and with gratitude for their untiring commitment to the life and mission of the Orthodox Church in America, Barbara and David received archpastoral gratitude and invoking of God’s Blessings from the Holy Synod of Bishops of the Orthodox Church in America on March 17, 2004.
In retirement Barbara and David relocated to Virginia and were faithful members of the Dormition of the Theotokos Orthodox Church in Norfolk for more than twenty years. They recently returned to New York to be closer to family.
Guided always by her deep faith, Barbara loved God, the Church, and her family. She cherished every moment with her husband, her children, and her grandchildren. She was so proud of the many “olive shoots around their table,” and she thanked God for the blessing of seeing all her children’s children.
Together, she and David treasured their small extended family in Queens, Pennsylvania, and Virginia Beach, and over the years their hearts embraced a wider one—the countless classmates, students, professors, staff, and their families who studied and worked at the Seminary, and who are a second family to them and their children.
Barbara is survived by her husband of sixty-three years, David Drillock; her son Gregory (Laurie); her daughter Daria Loposky (Fr. Stephen); her daughter Kyra Kirtyan (Steve); and her son Andrew (Victoria). She also leaves behind sixteen grandchildren: Gregory, Jack, Samuel, Ryan, Joshua, Lauren, Stephen, Nicholas, Megan, Anna, Erin, Preston, Alexander, Carter, Lincoln, and Savannah. She was preceded in death by her parents, her granddaughter Kathryn, and her brother-in-law Serge.
Barbara’s visitation and funeral will be held at St. Vladimir’s Seminary’s Three Hierarchs Chapel, followed by her interment at St. Tikhon's Monastery in South Canaan, PA. The schedule is as follows:
Friday, June 12
3pm–6:30pm: Visitation in the Seminary Chapel
7pm: Funeral Service
*At 6pm, there will be a choir rehearsal for the funeral.
Saturday, June 13
9am: Memorial Divine Liturgy followed immediately by the Litê of the Panikhida
Following the liturgy, the body will be taken to St. Tikhon's Monastery for interment.
In lieu of flowers, the family asks donations be made in Barbara’s memory to St. Vladimir’s Orthodox Theological Seminary.
*Any clergy who wish to concelebrate the funeral on Friday or the Divine Liturgy on Saturday should contact Fr. Alexander Rentel at arentel@svots.edu.
May Barbara’s memory be eternal!
