The Little Babushka

Olga Kovalenko (1920-2005)

 

In organizing a lot of my memorabilia, I am able to recall a lot of folks over the years I have been blessed with knowing.  I have met these people in churches, at work, and in other areas throughout my life, and they are the type of people who essentially leave an impression on you once you get to know them.  I try to document the stories of as many of them as possible over the years, as often one can lose touch if you don't recharge the memory cells a little.  One of those was a precious little old lady we met some years ago when we attended briefly an Antiochian Orthodox parish in St. Petersburg, FL, and I now want to share a few thoughts about her here with you all.  

 

Olga Kovalenko was a short, stocky little lady who struck me as being the picture of the classic Russian babushka - all she needed was a black shawl and she would have fit the picture well honestly.  She was of Belarusyn descent, and at the time we knew her she was around 84 years old.  But, she was a sweet little lady who constantly had a cheerful disposition, and she was one of those people you couldn't help but love.  A devoutly Russian Orthodox Christian, she attended church faithfully, and the devotion she had for Christ resonated from her countenance.  Although the parish she (and we) went to at the time was largely made up of roughly 50% each of Arabic-speaking Middle Eastern people and American converts to Orthodoxy, Olga still felt right at home and the people loved her in that parish.  

 

Olga was born in New Jersey, a fact I had just learned from her obituary after she passed away in May 2005.  For some reason, I had thought she was born in Minsk or something, as she would often talk to us at coffee hour after Liturgy and tell us stories about her roots, but it turned out that she was talking about her mother more than anything - her mother was born somewhere in the eastern stretch of the Carpathian Mountains, close to where Belarus, the Ukraine, Poland, and Hungary all sort of converged.  As a result, Olga was taught from an early age how to speak several languages, and she knew Polish, Ukrainian, and Russian.  While at coffee hour enjoying her donut or baqlawa with a cup of black tea, Olga was a delight to listen to.  Many younger people today don't know the true value of just listening to the elder generations, in particular someone as fascinating as this little lady was.  I feel as if many young people today are sort of deprived of principle as a result - a shallowness grips the present generation and spreads among it like a cancer (which is why they have no taste by and large, or an idiot like Justin Bieber would not be famous if they did!).  Over the years, I have gotten to appreciate hearing the memories of the elders as they talk, and I hope I talk some kids' ears off when I get to be that age too!  Any rate, I got to where I looked forward to coffee hour and listening to Olga talk about her life, and what a blessed life it was too.

 

A short time after we left that particular parish, Olga departed this life to receive her eternal reward.  She passed away on May 23, 2005, at the Bayfront Medical Center at the age of 85.  I know that many at St. Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church missed her too, as she was a much-loved member of that congregation, but as I often say, our loss was heaven's gain.  

 

I have gotten to know many interesting people over the years, but Olga was a special sort - a sweet lady, and also possessed of a great joy of life that she lived to its fullest over her 85 years on this earth.  If Olga were alive today, she would have been 98 this past February 24th.    Остальная часть вечной, dear Olga, and we'll see you in the hereafter.