bryansky-raboshiyBryansk High Female School #1, Russia,1947. There as we were schoolchildren we were hurrying with our pencil-boxes and books to meet our first teacher starting from grade 1 till grade 7 (completion of Junior High), our strict, fair and beautiful Nina Nickolaevna Ledneva. For seven years she united us in a spirit of intense learning, artistic and poetic developing, dancing, drawing and doing sports. To the left a photo of  the local regional newspaper “Bryansk Worker”, my-first-teacherFebruary 8, 1968 which my classmate Zoya Lapitskaya saved it for 40 years and brought to me as a souvenir at our late reunion in 2007. There was a publication of my article in that newspaper about our teacher with the title “Our First Teacher”, a photo to the right. Here I would like to dedicate Schubert’s “Ave Maria” to Nina Nickolaevna who liked this piece very much when she was alive but the performance is by a contemporary artist Vitas.

Ave  Maria

In that article of mine I wrote about her as a teacher of third generation, as her mother and her grandmother all were teachers, lots of experience and skills how to work with children. We felt it. For example, she was genuinely confident that everybody of us was born talented, so she used to give us, 8-year olds, a task to write a poem in the class album, left us for an hour to create verses and herself came back later to pick up our note-books. What was happening during that hour? I remember clearly. All 30 girls were staring at me decidedly “Help!”, begging about to compose at least something. And I did. I loved my classmates very much.  

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Аt our meeting in 2007  we shared these school years’ stories, recollecting our Nina Nickolaevna with warmth and kindness. What happened to her beloved pupils? Many of them had moved on, some had died, many stayed in Bryansk raising their families and getting together whenever possible. 13 girls who came to meet me this time got together at Klava Polyakova’s present work place  “Museum Arsenal”, where there were taken most of the our-class-without-mepictures which are shown in image gallery above.

And this is a song for you about mothers, because we  all are.   mama

I brought my books of poetry with me and gave them as a present. Everybody talked in excitement of meeting each other after so many years without knowing where everybody was and what became to her. Different destinies, different ways and life roads…                                                                                                     klava

Klava. Now she is married and her family name is Bakunina, called by all with respect and dignity Klavdia Sergeyevna., working at the same place  Bryansky Plant “Dormash” for more than 50 years. It speaks for itself. She raised two daughters and one son. The family is well established, four grandchildren are fond of their grandmother.

The other steep destiny of my classmates is of Zoya Lapitskaya’s who practically made her life herself. Early quit regular school, self taught and making up her living at age of 15, becoming a seamstress, then graduating from Leningrad Textile University by correspondence started her carrier from a rank-and-file worker to General Manager of the big enterprise “Bryanskoblshveibyt”. There was our little girl Zoya whom we now are proud of! It is a special song to you, Zoya. Listen to Vitas, please.Krikom

And personal life is not sweet  either. Unhappy marriage, her son of 8 years old was raised by her alone, in 1992 he was killed in automobile crash. That is why while upon watching our photo show one can see a photo of Zoya and me at her husband’s ans son’s grave, when we got together at the second day of our meeting at the Bryansk cemetery in 2007. Her grandson at age of about six was left for her again to raise., now he is 21, a graduate of Technological Academy. Congratulations to both of you, guys, Grandson and Grandmother, you are great. It is a song to you about love dy Vitas.Posveshchenie {tribute)

Health is deteriorating not only of you,  Zoya. We are not young any more. Age and not easy life get going. But all of our girls are full of energy, do not give up and keep up faces. Hold up, my dear friends! Listen to this song, please.I adore Vitas much, he is wonderful, a Songbird of the Gods.         Pocelui

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