Siima Shkop with her son Oleg Mellov at the old Jewish cemetery in Tallinn

This is me with my son Oleg Mellov at the old Jewish cemetery in Tartu, where my maternal grandmother Sima Rosenko was buried. I was named after her. I did not know my grandmother Siima. She died long before I was born. She must have been born in Tartu as there is a tombstone in Tartu cemetery with the Hebrew inscription. It is written Siima Rosenko in Russian on her tombstone. The picture was taken in 1993. When Oleg was young, he was fond of technical things. Then all of a sudden, art appealed to him and he entered the design department of the Art Institute. He graduated from it and started working. He married a wonderful Estonian lady, Ene. She graduated from the architecture department of Tallinn engineering institute. She is a very good girl. I love and respect her as my own child. Ene makes wonderful puppets. Oleg and Ene lived with us for a while after getting married. In 1972 their daughter Saave was born. When my granddaughter was born, I retired as my help was needed. I enjoyed taking care of the baby. In 1978 my second granddaughter was born. My son insisted that she should be named Sima. According to Jewish tradition children are named after deceased relatives. When I wrote to my sister Rika in Israel that my granddaughter was named after me, while I was still alive, she said that it was a big honor for me as I was alive and my granddaughter was carrying my name. Alexander was born after Sima, in 1980. The youngest, born in 1983, was called Jacob after my father. I took care of all of them. Now Oleg lives in Tartu with his second family. He has two children in his second marriage: daughter Kolla, born in 1999, and son Pele, born in 2001. Kolla is finishing the first grade. She loves dancing. Pelle still goes to kindergarten. He likes drawing the most. He says, 'I am an artist now.' Indeed, he is very talented.