Lena (Lyola) Natanovna Zvenyatskaya

Lena Zvenyatskaya died on April 28th, 2021. She is survived by her brother, Ilya Geifman, her daughter, Irina Kolyabina, 8 grandchildren, 9 great grandchildren, 2 nieces and their 5 children.

Lena was born in Kiev, Ukraine on September 20th, 1926. At the age of fourteen she was evacuated to Chimkent, Uzbekistan with her family, where they remained for nearly four years until the war was over. While there, she endured periods of starvation, wandering the fields looking for tomatoes and suffering the consequences of Typhus. She graduated Kiev Polytechnic Institute with a degree in Electrical Engineering and went on to work as a project manager, developing and overseeing plans to build infrastructure for the transportation of crude oil. On September 21st, 1950, she married Yasha Zvenyatski, a World War II veteran who had fought against the German Nazis.

She birthed and raised two successful daughters. In March of 1992, she moved to the United States of America where she helped to raise her grandchildren, teaching them Russian, helping them with math, and making sure they got up for school on time. She also taught them important life skills like how to do laundry, clean the house, and cook delicious meals.

Throughout her life she was a very strong spirited person, frequently standing in the face of affliction. She survived numerous near-death occasions, when many of those around her did not - often defying numerous doctors’ conclusions, exemplifying God’s sovereignty in the giving and taking of life. On multiple occasions, many doctors tried to label her with “end of life status” and convince her family that she would not have any good “quality of life”. With God’s grace, mercy and love, they were wrong and she overcame against all odds. She was a hard worker, always keeping the needs of her family at the forefront of everything she did. She will be remembered for her deep love of her family, her smile, witty jokes, and love of singing songs and reciting poems.