Basia Gutnik's mother Hana Gutnik

My mother, Hana Gutnik. This photo was taken in Kiev in 1939, when mother was 35. Mama didn't work outside the home. She didn't have a profession. She was a homemaker and a good wife to her husband. At the age of 30 she was diagnosed by doctors as suffering from heart disease. Mama got a job at the 'Metiz' plant in Kiev which made metal products. She was a laborer and then got promoted to the department of ready made products. I remember she brought home defective spoons and my grandmother sold them to buy some food at the market. Later, Mama got a job as a night nurse at the kindergarten. When I wrote mama to tell her that I was going to get married, I didn't ask her consent. I guess she was opposed to my marrying a Russian, but later she grew to like him very much. He was very charming and kind. By the way, my Aunt Maria and her husband did not oppose my choice. Mama came on a visit to meet him. She couldn't give me any dowry. She brought me a housecoat made out of parachute silk hand-painted by one of her acquaintances. . Mama was always willing to help me and visited us in Brest, Leningrad and Uzin. She loved her grandson. She always brought him picture books as presents and read them to him. Sometimes he stayed with her. In 1957 Mama married Miron, a Ukrainian. I don't remember his last name. He worked as a loader at a store, or something similar. Later, he was put in jail for something or other and Mama had a nervous breakdown. I took Mama to the neurological department of the hospital in Uzin. In 1960 doctors diagnosed cancer. She died that same year during the surgery.