Tamara Ivanovna (Plishevsky) Kizenko

Tamara Plishevsky Kizenko was born to Maria Silvestrovna (née Tyshkevich) Plishevsky (1903-94) and Ivan Mikhailovich Plishevsky (1901-92) on January 25, 1935, in Tommot, Yakutia. The extended Plishevsky family had been ‘dekulakized’ by the Soviet authorities during the First Five-Year Plan earlier in 1929: this means that they lost all their land and possessions and were sent to a remote region of Siberia for forced labor. There, one sister named Nina was born and died in babyhood; two more twin sisters were born in 1935: Tamara was the one who survived. Having finished their forced labor term, the Plishevsky family—young Tamara, her parents, and her brother Eugeny, and Tamara—moved to Kirovohrad (formerly Elizavetgrad, now Kropovnytskyi, Ukraine) in February, 1939. Even during militant atheism, the years in Kirovohrad introduced Tamara to Orthodox church life. Although she had been baptized, now she formed vivid memories of her first confession, of the poppies brought on the day of the Maccabee martyrs, and all that Ukrainians did on Christmas eve. The Plishevsky family had warm relations with their neighbors, including a Jewish family who offered Tamara her first matzoh on Passover. This life took an abrupt turn with the German invasion in 1941. In 1943, like many others in the ‘second wave’ of large-scale emigration, the Plishevsky family fled the Soviet Union, passing through Romania on their way to Germany. For the Plishevsky family, and for Tamara in particular, living in the barracks of the Displaced Persons camp of Fishbeck in the British zone (Hamburg environs, Germany) from 1945- 1949 proved an unexpectedly happy respite. The family was reunited: her brother Eugeny had been lost, and was now found again. They had a roof over their heads. With dedicated teachers and priests, the camp offered schooling, extracurricular activities, and the chance to have a daily church life richer than anything they had known in the USSR. This was where Tamara learned to recite poetry and to read Church Slavonic under the watchful tutelage of Maria Spiridonovna, the mother of her best friend Alexandra Romanowski. All this was shared with people who would become friends for life, including future archdeacon Eugeny Burbelo, Olga Petschnikowa, Marina Sakuta, and future archdeacon Ivan Onopko. When this respite was threatened by the British attempt to forcibly repatriate refugees to the Soviet Union, the Plishevsky family was protected by Archbishop Vitaly (Ustinov), future hierarch of the Russian Orthodox Church Abroad, and fled before the trucks arrived. The Plishevsky family was sponsored by a kind farming family in Hagerstown, Maryland, then moved to Trenton, New Jersey. But the focus of their social life was Greater New York City, where Tamara and her brother Eugeny would attend social events on Bleecker Street and political events at the House of Free Russia on 349 West 86th Street. Family lore is split on whether Tamara met her future spouse, Boris Ivanovich Kizenko, at the House of Free Russia—or washing dishes at the Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville, New York. Whichever it was, it was conclusive: the two pious young people were married on September 23, 1956; Boris was ordained to the priesthood on Theophany, 1957. The Kizenko family moved to the ROCOR (Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia) Cathedral in the Bronx, where their first two daughters, Elizabeth (Priebe) and Nadieszda, were born. Tamara later wondered how she managed to hoist their stroller up and down the subway steps. Like many other ROCOR clergy, Father Boris and Tamara worked at other jobs to support their family. Tamara worked in the Eye Institute of Columbia University and, later, for Travelers Insurance in the evenings, after she had fed her family dinner. It fell to Tamara to raise the steadily growing family. After the Kizenko family was assigned to the Entry of the Theotokos Parish in Syracuse, New York, the other children—Irene (Meschter), Serafim, Peter, Eugene, and Marie—were born. Living extremely frugally, she went to farmers’ markets and taught her family to keep the fasts and celebrate the feasts. Each of the children had their favorite lunch soup—tuna and barley, chicken and millet. Everyone remembers the carrot-andapple mash in the months of February and March and growing grass in which to nestle eggs at Eastertime. They also loved their mother’s cooking: borscht, pirozhki, ukha fish soup, roast lamb with rice, kholodetz…and…tuna casserole! The Holy Trinity Monastery in Jordanville was another focus of the family’s life: Tamara hosted visiting bishops, including Archbishop Averky (Taushev), the future Metropolitan Laurus, and the future Bishop Peter (Lukianov), along with beloved friends Archimandrites Vladimir, Gurii, and Flor. She would bring some of her children there for their first confession to make the occasion even more solemn. As the family moved to Flint, Michigan, Hartford, Connecticut, Vineland, New Jersey, Tamara saw to it that all her children participated in church services and said their prayers. As they fell asleep while she read to them, they would hear their parents singing Compline and evening prayers. Just as she had learned to read Church Slavonic, so she now taught her daughters. She remained a devoted daughter to her parents, whom she looked after when Father Boris moved to his last parish—St Vladimir Memorial Church in Jackson, New Jersey. There, Tamara and Father Boris watched over the Millennium of the Baptism of Rus celebrated in 1988. Although Tamara was gracious, modest, and quiet, and worked in every way to help her husband, she had her own goals, which included visiting the USSR in the early 1970s and the Holy Land. Truly, it was she who held the family together, through all the moves, which included these parishes: Cathedral in Bronx, NY; the Entry of the Theotokos into the Temple, Syracuse NY 1961-1973; Theophany, Flint, MI 1973-1976; St Panteleimon, Hartford, CT, 1976-1980; Holy Trinity, Vineland, NJ, 1980-ca. 1986, and St Vladimir Memorial Church, Jackson, NJ, from 1986 on. When the boys would approach Father Boris in his study about attending various sporting events or other inquiries he would always put his hands up the air and direct them to Tamara, intoning ‘Dispatcheru, dispatcheru’. The logistics of raising seven children are not easy and when asked about how she did it she responded ‘Well, the first one was tough, but after that it was like dominoes.’ How did she keep the children in line? One example: once, at the ripe age of 7, Peter told his mother that he was going to run away. She responded by saying ‘No problem, but don’t expect a bed when you get back’. Peter scratched his head and stayed. She rejoiced in her grandchildren, Raisa, Cassia, Daniel, Alexis, Ian, Victor, Boris, Maria, and Anastasia, and her great-grandchildren, Tamara and Sasha. After the death of her husband, Protopriest Boris Kizenko in 2010, a new stage of Tamara’s life began. Her brother Eugeny became a core part of the extended Kizenko clan. Church feasts, Sundays, weeknights—all offered the chance to discuss the nuances of Orthodoxy, history, and the latest news. They liked their technology: on their iPads, they FaceTimed at 9pm every night, something as regular as watching Jeopardy on weeknights. For as long as her strength allowed, Tamara attended St. Vladimir Memorial Church where she enjoyed watching several generations of children mature before her eyes. Even as her vigor declined, she continued to radiate love and humility and gratitude. especially to Father Serge Ledkovsky, the Wojtenko family, the Olhovsky family, and the parish sisterhood. When she could no longer come to church or stand to say her prayers, she would stream services and the evening prayer rule. The Kizenko family expresses profound thanks to everyone who brought such joy to Tamara throughout her long life. We hope that you can join us in bidding her farewell, and asking God’s blessings as she enters eternity.

To send flowers to the family or plant a tree in memory of Tamara Ivanovna (Plishevsky) Kizenko, please visit our floral store.