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Part Four: The Volftsuns in America 143 take care of Yeva. They described the two- room apartment the family lived in. "Lyubov helped me do my homework," Lev Laber says. "Lyubov was so iendly. She made iends with everyone. Family connection was very important to her. She called Iosif 's four sisters every day." The news of her death hit the family hard. Lev Laber echoed the words of many people in the family when he said how unfair it was for someone with such a healthy lifestyle as Lyubov to get cancer. "She was jogging long before it was fashionable," he says. Everyone wanted to honor her. Boris and Esfira honored her by naming their son Gary (through his middle name, Leonard) aer her. On Sundays, Iosif and Yeva visited Lyubov's grave in the cemetery in Rochester. These visits became a ritual for many years and provided comfort to the grieving pair. As for Iosif, his heart was broken. Although he slowly put his shattered life back together and eventually learned to love again, he still cries when he talks about his first love. To this day, at every special occasion, he never fails to tell his family that he wishes Lyubov could be there and how proud she would be. Esfira Laber Grinev, the sister of Lev Laber, also spent a lot of time with Lyubov in both Russia and America. She remembers many, many conversations with Lyubov about having children. "Lyubov told me that aer she gave birth to a handicapped child, she didn't want to have another child," Esfira says. It is not uncommon for parents of handicapped children to fear giving birth to another handicapped child. Lyubov explained to Esfira how scared she was about getting pregnant again. But such is the power of the Jewish faith to follow God's command to Adam and Eve in the Garden of Eden—"to be uitful and multiply"—that Lyubov eventually changed her mind. She told Esfira over and over again how glad she was when Yeva's brother, Lev, was born in 1955. Esfira, five years older than Lev, remembered many summers that they spent together. The Above: Zhenya Fajerman, Lyubov Volsun, and Iosif Volsun in Rochester, New York, 1982. summers were filled with camping, hiking, and swimming. Later Esfira marveled at her cousin's ability to excel without any apparent effort. "Lev slept late and never studied," Esfira recalls. "When he was in college, his mother would always say, 'Lev, why are you not studying?' He would say, 'Don't worry, don't worry.' And Lev always passed his examinations." Neither Lyubov nor Esfira ever understood how Lev did so well in school without studying.

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