April 7 is the ninetieth birthday of Lubov P. Oleynik, maiden name Khaldoyanidi. She was born in 1914 in Baku, in the family of Pontic Greeks, who have run from Turkey looking for a better life. Her parents: Khaldoyanidi Pavel & Melpomena had a small milk shop. According to the old fashion their family was small. Lubov had 2 sisters: Sofia & Melina. It was a united family, parents were modest & diligent people, & taught their daughters to be like them. Children learned in the Greek school, Lubov also took part in a dramatic club in the Greek theatre.
Soviet authority in the beginning of its governing opened schools and theatres for people who had run from Turkey & lived in the USSR.
Only the most talented young people were taken to the Greek theatre. Lubov was a very beautiful & talented girl. She brilliantly played parts from tragedies of Eschil, Evrepid. Many people who saw her on the stage remembered for many years her scenic skills, sensitiveness & sincerity of the roles she played.
Like most women of that time Lubov had a very tragic love. At the age of 18 she married Georgy I. Damiannidy. They had 2 children - a son & a daughter. But suddenly the happiness ended - in December 1937 because of the false denunciation her husband, father & father in law were arrested. In February 1938 they were executed by shooting.
The hard life began. She was looking for a job, but everybody refused “enemy’s wife”. Then the World War II began. It was very hard to keep children, but her mother & sister Sofia helped her. Finally she found a job - she became a nurse in a hospital. There she met Vasiliy Oleynic, whom she married a little bit later. He loved this family with all his heart. In 1949 the new misfortune came. After the Stalin’s order the Great Migration of Peoples began. Almost all Greek families from Baku & other parts of the USSR were sent to Kazakhstan.
And they started from the beginning - built new house, in 1953 the junior son was born. After Stalin’s death in 1955 Greeks were rehabilitated. In 1967 Lubov with her family moved to Pyatigorsk & there they found a better life.
Now her children are grownups, they have their own families. In 1995 Lubov’s husband Vasiliy died - she could hardly stand this. Now she lives with her junior son. She has 2 granddaughters, 3 grandsons & 4 grand grandsons.