There have been many great men down through history that have gone unsung. Those who have not had the fame of Ghandi or JFK, but have none the less shaped the world around them for the better and left those they have touched better for knowing them. My Dad, my father-in-law, was one of those men. I had the honor of knowing him and his legacy and although he has passed, on those things that he had done in his life and the amazing person that he was shall last for time untold in the words and remembrances of those who knew him. As a younger man he was a foreman in charge of large building projects for the state; a seemingly insignificant position, but in a job surrounded by corruption and constantly offered cash to “lose supplies” or cut corners he was one lone man that stood for honesty and integrity while others got rich from bribes and dishonesty. He gained a reputation as a good and honest man that could be trusted. That in it’s self, staying uncorrupted amongst constant temptation, is an amazing feat, but what is even more incredible is the fact that he was neither arrogant about his integrity nor judged others for the lack of. Since his passing we’ve begun reading his journals. Beautifully written accounts of his thoughts and experiences and what has come to light is that not even in these, his personal thoughts, does he pass judgment on others for their faults or shortcomings. I can easily say that there are few of us who can make a claim to even one of these attributes let alone a combination of honesty, integrity and humbleness. I can see these qualities in my wife and her brother both of who bristle at corruption and cringe at the idea of dishonesty. He raised his children by example and instilled in them the best of virtues by the way he lived. My greatest sorrow in all of this is that I did not get the chance to know him better. He would kiddingly chide me for my failure to learn Russian, but was always delighted, cheering me on, when I would stumble through a sentence or two in Russian. Thankfully I did get to spend an amazing week at his home and dacha (garden) several years ago. His dacha, full of life and packed with grape vines, fruit trees and a myriad of vegetables, was his haven and his joy. I can only describe it as the most amazingly peaceful of places, a temple of nature and man in harmony, built by care and hard work that one never wants to leave. Nestled among all this life was the small one room cottage he had built himself using old world knowledge. The incredibly thick walls insulating not only from the summer heat but seemingly from the insanity of the modern world. It’s no wonder he prized his time alone here, waking well before dawn daily and spending his day tending to the plants, making wine and adding never ending finishing touches to the cottage. In a sense he was a very wealthy man and I believe he was rewarded for his life of honesty and hard work by this small patch of earth. There are few, if any men, whose life I would be jealous of but his is one. A man confident in who he is and who walks lightly and easily in the clearness of his conscious yet with the humility of the saints. Grigory Shevelyov has not left, but exists still with us in his beautiful wife Lydia, his two wonderful children Olga and Slava, his grandchildren and the countless others who had the privilege to know him.
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