This is my obituary about Omam at the Seattle Latvian Church on June 15, 2009.

Emma Lapinkis was born in Balaganzka, Siberia on January 26, 1919.

The 1905 Russian Revolution shook the roots of the Russian Empire and Czar Nicolas II hastened liberal reforms to protect the collapsing Romanoff dynasty. He encouraged young educated men to migrate east with great stipends and economic opportunity – a stimulus package, if you will. Leopold Lapinskis, a pharmacist from Riga took the opportunity to explore the world and settle in the hinterlands of eastern Russia – Siberia to be precise in 1907. Recently married to his wife, Wilhelmine, they settled along the shores of Lake Bratskoye, Balaganska. He would soon father two sons, our favorite uncle, Voldemars in 1908 and Haralds in 1910. It was a pleasant, beautiful and peaceful existence for the young pharmacist as he helped doctors dispense medications and raise his young family.

But serenity seldom lasts in Russian history. World War I breaks out in the summer of 1914 and soon Leopolds life resembles that of Dr. Zhivago – a young medic conscripted by the Russian Army tending to the care of the wounded and sick. As the armistice concludes WWI in November 1918, the Eastern front explodes in the final disintegration of the Russian Empire. Remnants of the Russian and German Empires side with Bolsheviks, Mensheviks and Nationalists who quickly declare new countries and governments within Eastern Europe – Latvia being one of them. But rather than rejoicing with the end of the War and the Independence of Latvia, young Leopold, is now caught in dispensing medication for whoever was in power during this long period of Russia’s Civil War. During this violent period, our mother, Emma was born on January 26, 1919. Only a few years later, 1923, while curing the victims of disease and famine, young Leopold succumbs to one of the diseases he so diligently protected others from - stress and heart failure. Up to 20 million people were said to have starved during this horrific period in Russia. Yet baby Emma survived – showing early in her life her silent resilience and durability

Alzheimer’s is a pernicious disease. It captures the mind within a healthy body. To me, the most simplistic view of Alzheimer’s is like watching a movie in reverse. The person slowly articulates their experiences as their memory cells disappear. And so it was, only a couple of years ago, in a drive to Seattle that Oman, with the greatest of lucidity, in minute detail, tells me about their courageous trip back from Siberia to Riga. Without their father, her mother and grandmother were determined to settle the family back in Riga. Easier said than done. With the Bolsheviks in full control, freedom of movement became nonexistent. But another lesson of Russia, despite the bravado of the Homo Sovieticus, the one thing every Russian man fears and respects is the power of the Babushka - grandmother. So Oman proceeds to tell me how her 80 year old Grandmother, also called Emma, with brusk and bravado delivered her family for the better part of several months back home to Riga.

Omam grew up in Agenskalns, a working community across Daugava, in Riga. Led now by a single mom, life was not easy. Everybody worked hard and contributed to the well being of the family. For all that, I never recall Emma or Uncle Voldamars complain about their youth. To the contrary, they only had praise about their joyous life within their home. Her youth was beautiful in all respects, and so was she. Upon graduating from high school, she had the command of three languages, Latvian, Russian and German and was encouraged to go to the Riga Commercial School for business training. While still going to school, her language skills helped her land a job at the Bank of Latvia. There, it did not take long for a young handsome, dashing athlete, Sasha to catch the attention of this quiet and shy, but beautiful lady. Like many in this church, our parents were caught between two very ugly World Wars. By this time, Latvia again has been occupied by Russia, Germany and now threatened by the Soviets.

Emma and Sasha were married on March 4, 1944 and less than a year later, Emma, her infant daughter, Laima and I, tucked away in the protection of her pregnant tummy, began her second refugee saga across the plains of Poland. It will take another full year before we meet up with our father, Aleksandrs in Esslingen – the largest refugee camp in the Western Zone. There my memories of “mila mammina” begin. Early in 1951 we arrive in Tacoma. Like all immigrants, their early jobs were the ones nobody else wanted to do. But then one day, answering an ad in the paper, Omam comes home with an opportunity to be a librarian. Her greatest personal pride was having achieved the professional status of becoming a Librarian. She worked for over 20 years at the Pacific Lutheran University Library and was very, very proud of her American achievement, a land she really loved and thanked.

Perhaps unpopular to say today, Omam lived first and foremost to be a good wife and mother. And later, the best grandmother kids could have. Nurturing the family was her talent. Times were not always easy with men like Sasha, uprooted, displaced in a foreign country, struggling financially in a world far from his expectations. Yet Omam, like many of the nurturing moms of our community had the skills of love and charm to settle his discontent. She truly gave us the tools to love and appreciate. I can only say that for the person who experienced some of the worst in the world – she gave it all back in love and humanity.

Oman seemed to only have one side to her - the good side. My friend Stan, sitting in the back recently told me, to my great surprise, that Lutherans carry more guilt than Jews or Catholics. To that extent, I think Stan’s words are true. The only guilt she ever acknowledge in her life was how she, as a small child, tormented her grandmother, who too suffered from dementia in her late life - whoooa – talk about carrying guilt for a lifetime and then attributing your own dementia to the innocence of childhood indiscretion.

And she carried few regret – but one she carried all her life. She was so upset at her mother Wilheime for naming her Emma. She hated her name – it was always so old fashioned to her. Ironically, today, she leaves us with the most popular name given to newborn girls in America – Emma. She has come a long and fascinating way from the shores of Lake Bratskoye over these last 90 years.

The greatest tribute I can give Omam today, is to return the comfort she gave me, my siblings, and all her grandchildren every night by the side of our beds with our evening prayers. Accordingly, I would like our family to join me so we can lead you with the song so familiar to our congregation. Please join us in giving Omam the comfort she now needs on her new, and perhaps scary journey – our Latvian lullaby - Aijā žužū lāča bērni.

Aijā žūžū lāča bērni,

Aijā žū-ū-žū,

Pekainām(i) kājiņām(i) žū-ū-žū (2x).

Tēvs aizgāja bišu kāpti,

Aijā žū-ū-žū,

Māte ogu palasīt(i) žū-ū-žū (2x).

Tēvs atnesa medus podu

Aijā žū-ū-žū,

Māte ogu vācelīti, žū-ū-žū (2x).

Tas mazam(i) bērniņam(i)

Aijā žū-ū-žū,

Par mierīgu gulēšanu, žū-ū-žū (2x).

I also sent this information to Daira Clinens, the Seattle Latvian Lutheran minister for back-up info.

Born: Emma Lapinskis

Balaganska, Russia

January 26, 1919

Died: Emma Celms

Tacoma, WA

May 25, 2009

Omam was married to a “jock” family. Sasha was a big sportsman in Latvia, representing the National team in basketball and soccer and highly involved in sports organizations when his playing days were over. He ran the sports programs in Esslingen and was one of the many Latvian sportsmen here in Seattle to organize Latvians sports and the kid’s summer camps. Omam, was the extreme opposite, but she was extremely supportive of the virtues and value of sports – she too believed it kept kids off the streets and out of trouble. And she understood the health value of physical fitness. Janis and Harold’s were star athletes in Tacoma, and they both got scholarships for Track at the University of Washington and Stanford respectfully. Laima too was athletic, despite girls at the time not having many options. She went on to Western Washington and got a teaching degree in Physical Education and has spent the better part of her life running 10Ks, marathons, teaching PE and coaching track and field. Sports and fitness remain a Celms family virtue. Omam encouraged all our efforts and was a great fan. She went everywhere with Opaps to watch our events and three times they traveled with other Latvians sports fans to the Olympics in Mexico City, Munich and Montreal.

Omam was utilitarian with the love of labor and hard work. She disdained modern automation and technology. She walked everywhere. Shopping by car was not her style. She walked to the grocery store everyday and thought nothing of carrying full bags home by hand. To her last days, she would do a routine of five miles a day to stay fit. She took that utilitarian principal to her Haven Lake cabin. She loved the outdoors and instinctively was an environmentalist. Her cabin would have NO MODERN conveniences. She insisted that everybody had to bathe in the lake every morning and if you wanted running water – you had to “run” it up by the bucketful from the lake. To this day, she insisted that the outhouse was adequate for our needs. Stewardship of the land was paramount in our dealing with nature. We all adopted her ways and learned to accept her concepts many years before being “green” was cool.

Omam and Opap spent their life socializing with friends or heading out to nature. They found little time for the niceties of life. They wanted to travel, be outdoors and enjoy their good friends. She was most at home in those elements.

They had a good life. After the first 5-10 years in America, Opap landed a good job at Weyerhaeuser Company as a tax accountant in Tacoma and begin finding his financial bearings. In the end, when we all graduated from schools, they were able to buy their dream house, with a spectacular view of Puget Sound in Tacoma. They were frugal and thrifty - but with a purpose. Every year, they would plan for another new adventure – either a trip across America to visit old Latvian friends, or repeated trips back to Latvia and Europe. And, they had their fair share of exotic trips to Mexico, Australia and the Pacific Islands.

Where Sasha was gregarious, Omam remained shy but supportive. They were the perfect complement of each other. She loved Sasha from the day they met until he died in 1987 - many years too early for his departure. She missed him dearly, and never imagined replacing him. Instead, she poured her energy into helping us raise our children. Almost any weekend, we as parents could count on Omam to take the grandchildren for the weekends.

To her ending days, she continued to drive out to Haven Lake to putter in the forest. When she could no longer drive she would call me every weekend and ask if she could come out with me and the kids. As said earlier – she remained the best that a wife, mother and grandmother could be.