LITHUANIA AND LIFE
Following a recent speech to a Marco Island (Florida) veterans
group, I mingled with attendees—using sports to find common ground.
“You’re from Dallas? So what’s going to happen to Tony Romo?”
I was introduced to a couple people who came from even further
away than Texas. Rimas Ragalevicius and his daughter Lina hailed from Vilnius,
Lithuania.
“You're from Lithuania? A great basketball country, yes?”
Lina nodded in agreement.
“We won an Olympic Bronze Medal in 1992, right after we became independent
from Soviet Union.”
That was the year of the first USA Dream Team. Michael Jordan and
Company beat Lithuania by over 50 points in the semifinal.
Having just read “Lenin’s Tomb,” David Remnick’s Pulitzer
Prize-winning account of the fall of the Soviet empire, I was not only
intrigued by Rimas’ and Lina’s accents, but by their life journeys. While they’d
come to hear me speak, I ended up asking THEM question after question.
They recalled being in Lithuania’s Baltic capital of Vilnius in
January of 1991 when the Soviets tried to impose a bloody crackdown on the
burgeoning Lithuanian independence movement. But before the year ended it was
the Soviet Union that disintegrated.
Remnick’s narrative reinforced my sense of the abject horror that
marked what Ronald Reagan referred to as the Evil Empire. That Josef Stalin was
personally responsible for the deaths of over 40 million people was mind-boggling
enough. That so many millions more spent countless years in Gulags—Soviet
Concentration Camps—seemed beyond comprehension. And those who were not killed
or incarcerated remained prisoners of a totalitarian police state where no one
could be trusted.
The Soviets had occupied Lithuania following a dastardly 1939 deal
with the German Nazis, who in turn took over the country in 1941. But by 1945
the Soviets were back.
Lina’s English was a bit better than her dad’s and she shared that
life was hellish for Lithuanians in those days. Her grandparents met as
17-year-olds during a month-long journey in a railroad boxcar to a prison camp
near Irkuts in Siberia. While many did not survive the trip, her grandfather
Jonas kept spirits up by playing an accordion every day. That he made music
during those dreadful times made Brone fall in love with him. In subsequent
years, Jonas survived as a slave laborer in a gold mine while Brone became a
camp midwife.
They’d have likely perished in the Gulag but for the fortuitous
death of Stalin in March of 1953. Soviet policies softened somewhat and Jonas
and Brone were allowed to return to Lithuania. They married and Lina’s mother
Vida was born in 1954. Vida eventually studied chemical engineering at a
college where she met and married Rimas. Lina was born in 1982 and enjoyed a
relatively happy childhood. Rimas parlayed his education into entrepreneurism,
making jewelry out of aluminum—eventually saving enough money to send Lina to
law school.
Lina qualified for a travel visa to the USA in 2003. While
visiting Maine she met Chad Upham, whom she eventually married. They ended up
moving to Marco Island in late 2004 and have happily lived there since, along
with daughter Karla, whom Lina described as a proud American redneck who loves
reciting the Pledge of Allegiance.
Lina delighted in showing her parents around south Florida, a
local tour that included taking in my speech—which they hopefully enjoyed. But
I thought THEIR life stories were much more compelling. I wished that more
Americans appreciated the USA as much as did Lina, Rimas and Vida.
Getting back to sports, Lina pointed out that at the 2004 Athens
Olympics the Lithuanian basketballers were the first-ever to defeat an American
Dream Team—which then included LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, Tim Duncan, and nine
other superstars.
To which I replied, “I guess after you’ve overcome an Evil Empire,
a Dream Team isn’t that intimidating.”
Long live Lithuania!
MIM and Lina Upham
Lina's grandfather Jonas with accordion
