11/02/2020
Hello, everybody!
I hope everyone enjoyed the Christmas and New Year period, and had a lovely break.
Let me know if you got up to anything particularly fun or special!
On that note, I would like to share one of the highlights of my career, so far.
Every year, my client and dear friend, Jane, orders a cake from Canada for her mother’s birthday. Jane has been with me since I launched my business more than six years ago. Last year, her mother Fanya turned 100 years old!
Fanya has an absolutely fascinating story that I would like to share with you all today.
Fanya Tesler was born on the 25th of August, 1919, in Odessa, Ukraine, and was the oldest of three children. She came from a poor family who had lost everything in the Russian Revolution prior to her birth. She came from a Jewish family. Despite the difficulties of the time, with the N***s gaining power, the family still observed the Jewish faith. They had Shabbos every Friday, followed by a feast of challah, chicken soup and other wonderful delights.
Fanya enjoyed school, despite not being able to speak Ukrainian, initially. She then attended Medical School and studied Pathology in Odessa. After that, she worked in a children’s hospital with six other women, and was very happy with her life.
It was at university, in 1938, that she met her future husband, Paul Gusman. When they married, she kept her maiden name, while their children took their father’s name. Although, at the time, many would have looked down at Fanya, her husband was fine with her decision.
Things were becoming very difficult and unstable in 1939, just before the Germans invaded the Ukraine. Fanya and her family fled to Siberia, in fear of what may happen to them. The Teslers went by train, crammed with other families. Along the way, at routine stops, Fanya remembered thinking that she had lost her family – twice – before finally being reunited with them three weeks later in a foreign country.
During the war, her husband was stationed as an Officer. Because he had qualifications as an engineer, he worked on radar technology.
Fanya lost a lot of family during the war. It was difficult for her since they were all very close. However, those who survived still kept in touch with each other and saw each other as often as they could, despite the great distances separating them.
Fanya and her husband moved back to Odessa after the war. In 1945, she became pregnant with her first daughter, Jane. She then had her second daughter, Malvina, in 1955.
In 1967, her husband died of cancer, at the age of 52.
Fanya had been deciding to move to Australia for quite some time. Eventually, she decided to follow behind her sister, Ida, and move to the country as well. Fanya had no knowledge of English and had to learn the entire language herself.
Although she had qualifications in Pathology, Fanya had difficulty finding work, so decided to become a housekeeper. She stayed with a family who had emigrated from Harbin in China.
Several years later, she moved to a housing commission in Waterloo. She liked it there and still speaks to some of her former neighbors to this day. As happy as she was in her life at that time, Fanya had to come to terms with her age. An injury from a fall made her realize that perhaps she couldn’t live alone anymore and needed to be helped.
Her family then decided that she would be put into Montefiore, a place which she calls “The Palace.” Although it didn’t feel like home to her, she made the best of her situation. Her family bought her a set of drawers, which she decorated with family photos. She was also given a Russian television.
Fanya is a remarkable person, with a wonderful sense of humor. She has two daughters and two sons-in-law, three grandchildren and three great grandchildren.
It is never difficult to make her laugh, which is amazing when you think about everything she experienced in her life.
“Life is like steps. Up and down,” she says. For me, this phrase reminds me that I should take things one step at a time, and not worry so much. Maybe that way I’ll also be able to enjoy cake until I am 100!
Do you have any special stories yourself to share? I would be delighted to hear them, so please let me know in the comments below!
