Halina Makarova 1931-2011

Halina Makarova 1931-2011

Yesterday we buried Baba Halya*.  She was Andrei's Tania's paternal grandmother and Masha's great grandmother.  Masha is heart broken.  "I can't believe I will never see Baba Halya again".  Neither can any of us.

She died suddenly of heart failure Saturday evening.  She was never sick and lived independently to the last breath so I guess it was a good way to go.  Baba Halya would have been 80 in July and was planning a big celebration.  She loved people and loved family gatherings.  Tanya and I included her in every family meal we could because she was such a joy to have around.  I never knew her not to smile and her laughter was infectious.

The ceremony was small with just family and a few old friends from her apartment.  Old women outnumbered old men 10 to 1.  When you reach 80, there are not many men left alive in Ukraine.  Halina had been widowed over 30 years ago.  Tanya's father died 13 years ago. In an adjoining part of the church, a simultaneous ceremony was under for a man of 36 who had died of cancer.  You get the picture.

The priest did not accompany us to the cemetery.  Four men from the funeral company carried the coffin to the grave site and four of her old lady friends carried the lid.  We all said our goodbyes, the lid was placed on the coffin and fixed with a nail in each corner.  The coffin was then gently lowered to be beside her husband from whom she had been long separated.  Bobik, Volk and I will visit her every time we go for a walk that way.

We met her other son, Alexandr (Sasha) (Tania's uncle) and his wife Alla, their two adult children Regina and Sasha Jr. and their spouses, all of whom live in Zhovti Vody.  Next time we have a family gathering we will have 6 new people to invite. And we will certainly remember a wonderful woman, our beloved Baba Halya.


*The Cyrillic letter Г is pronounced as a hard G in Russian or an H in Ukrainian.  In Russian, she would be Galina.