Riva Pizman and her family
Our family. From left to right, sitting: Hana Minkin, my son Igor wife Yevgenia's mother; Igor's son Pavel and me. Standing: Yevgenia's father Semyon Minkin; my older son Igor; his wife Yevgenia; my younger son Mikhail; my husband Aron Pizman. We were photographed, when we visited our son. This photo was taken in Voronezh in 1985.
Our first son Igor was born in 1952. Aron didn't want me to go to work. He believed that a married woman had to take care of the household and the husband had to provide for the family. I had to quit my job, when my son Igor was born. At that time the maternity leave was one month before and one month after the birth. I had to choose between my son and my job and I made my choice. I have devoted all my life to my family.
In 1955 Aron went to work at the plant named after Kirov in Mogilyov-Podolskiy manufacturing equipment for food industry where he worked 46 years, starting as a laborer, then he became a tinsmith and then a mechanic. In 1958 he joined the party. Aron made a very good husband and father.
After finishing school our older son Igor did not want to continue his studies. He became an apprentice of a turner at the Kirov plant. One year later he was recruited to the army. After demobilization Igor returned home and worked as a turner. Our younger son was a talented boy. He finished school with honors and wanted to continue his education. We knew that Mikhail had few chances to enter a higher educational institution in Ukraine - Jews were not quite welcome there. Aron once went on business to Voronezh and he liked this town in Russia. He went there with Mikhail. Mikhail passed his entrance exams to the Mechanical Faculty of the Polytechnic College. Mikhail had all excellent marks in his college. We rented a room for him. My husband and I often went to visit Mikhail there and sent him some money to support him. Mikhail received an advanced stipend, but it was too small to live on it. Our older son also went to visit his brother on his vacation. Igor met his future wife, Anna Narolskaya, a Russian girl, there. They fell in love with each other and decided to get married. My husband or I did not care that Anna was not Jewish. We didn't care about the nationality. We believed human virtues to be important. . They loved each other and this was what mattered. They got married and Igor moved to Voronezh. He went to work as a turner at the mechanical plant. Igor was mature enough now to understand that he needed to study. He finished a mechanical technical school while working at the plant and then he finished the evening department of the polytechnic College. He became a foreman in his shop. Anna was chief accountant in a construction agency. Igor and Anna have two children: Pavel was born in 1982, and daughter Svetlana - in 1985. My son and his family came to see us and we went to visit them. Mikhail returned to Mogilyov-Podolskiy after finishing his studies and went to work as an engineer at the Kirov plant. Now Mikhail is chief of the department for introduction of state-of-the-art equipment. He studies new equipment developments and decides what equipment the plant should purchase, which equipment requires modifications or replacement. -please explain what that means When he returned here, Mikhail met a wonderful Jewish girl. Her name is Lilia Weinstock. She was born in Mogilyov-Podolskiy. Lilia finished a medical school and worked as a medical nurse. They got married. Mikhail received an apartment from his plant. Mikhail and Lilia have two daughters: Tatiana, born in 1988, and Nathalia, born in 1992. I helped my son and daughter-in-law to raise the girls. They are very nice, talented and kind girls. They spent a lot of time with us here.
My older son, his wife and children moved to Israel recently. Now they live in Haifa. My son works in a shop, his wife hasn't found a job as yet. My older grandson Pavel has recently returned home after his military service. He will probably go to study to become a doctor. My granddaughter finished school, and now she serves in the army.