The Gallagher family — Todd, Anya, Ella, mother Veronika and Niko — posed in Dracula's castle in Romania.Todd Gallagher, who grew up in Parker and graduated from Allegheny-Clarion High School in 1984, and his Ukrainian wife are Christian missionaries who were living in Ukraine but are now in Romania assisting those fleeing Ukraine due to the Russian invasion. Submitted Photo

His Ukrainian neighbors laughed at Parker native Todd Gallagher when he suggested he and his family should leave their missionary post in Vinnytsia for the safety of Romania as Russian President Vladimir Putin amassed his war machine on the border of the two countries.

Gallagher said the Ukrainians thought Putin was once again blowing hot air and would not act on his threats of invasion and rolled their eyes as he talked of gathering food and generator gasoline to last 1.5 months.

“They chalked it up as an American mindset,” Gallagher said. “They were 100% confident it wasn’t going to happen.”

Gallagher and his Ukrainian wife, Veronika, and the couple’s three children had been living in Vinnytsia, which is two hours from the border of Moldovia and three hours from the Ukrainian capital of Kyiv, for four years as they pursued their Christian missionary work.

Then, a few weeks before the invasion, the family decided to take some vacation time at a ski resort in Brasov, Romania, where all five would have some fun together learning to ski.

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