Ellen Levin "Helen or Lena Levina"

Lena was born February 18, 1950, in Moscow. This year we, her friends, celebrated her 73-d birthday. Lena. with the nice hair do, wearing the fashion new suit, looked fabulous, as usually, and, as usually, she joked, giving us a lot of advises, informed us about a future performance at Severance Hall and about a new book she just finished reading.

She read very fast, almost all the new English and Russian books our local libraries exhibited and recommended who we should read.

She was reading a lot and liked to talk about books. Once I asked her why she didn’t write but she answered that to write is very long process taking a lot of time that she preferred to read.

Lena told me that she learned to read at her early childhood, and very soon she read all the books that her young family had at home and in a small library in Monino where her father served as a general and the Hero of the Soviet Union. Lena was a general daughter and inherited his strong character, boldness and was not afraid to move around the town herself. She found the library where she could read and take the books home. She found that some people could not read and decided to be a teacher.

She dreamed to be a teacher, not a simple teacher but the teacher of Russian language for all people being able to read the books. Teachers as the doctors were among the least paid professions. Teachers in the Soviet Union worked because of their calling. Usually, the young soviet specialists after their graduation were sent to the distant parts of the country. Lena decided to study the fundamentals of the Russian language at the Moscow State University that was known as the best school for teachers.

At the end of 60-es and the beginning of 70-es the department of Russian Language at the Moscow University was a place where the famous professors of Russian languages, such as V. V. Vinogradov, D. S. Lichachev and other best specialists worked. Their lectures were very popular. At the University Lena spent five years and though she was invited the postdoc position, she chose to be a simple teacher of Russian Language and literature. Almost 20 years she taught Russian Languages and literature at the Moscow Pedagogic University. As a teacher, she became very popular and highly demanded in Moscow. Her students became very successful teachers, reductors of newspapers and magazine’s. Many of her former students are currently working as professors at different Universities in Russia and other counties. Some of them are teaching at the US universities.

In 1992 she left for the US with her family. Her husband, Victor Levin, was invited to work by Akron University. At the beginning of their life in Cleveland, Lena taught Russian at the Community College. She simultaneously went to work at the Nordstrom at the department of cosmetic. Very soon she became one of the best sellers and remained it until her retirement. Her patience and her willingness to help people made her popular among the natives as well as Russians. Her death is a huge loss for everybody. Not only in Cleveland, but around the world where her students and friends live and work.