Ekaterina (Ustinov) Gulajew (July 13, 1929 – December 17, 2014)
Katerina departed from this life in a peaceful sleep to await the joy of her eternal life at the age of 85. In accordance with her Russian Orthodox faith, she had received communion and absolution to ease her final journey. She had suffered many complications following a broken hip in the previous year, finally succumbing to them at Faulkner Hospital in Boston. The kindness and expertise of the staff at the hospital and of the many other medical professionals at VNA of Boston, Home Staff and other facilities who helped Katerina were most appreciated by her family.
Katerina was born in the countryside near Vitebsk, Belarus to Ivan and Irina Ustinov. Her father died when she and her late sister Maria were young children, and the two were raised by a strong, loving mother and extended family. Because of the events of World War Two, the family was forced to flee their farming community, and Katerina was held in a forced labor camp with her mother and sister in Salzburg, Austria. It was at this camp that Katerina met her husband of more than forty years, Paul Gulajew. Sadly, their first child was stillborn. Following the liberation of Europe, the couple emigrated to Brazil, where Paul worked in his profession as a winemaker. Five years later in 1953, they followed Katerina’s family who had settled in the South End of Boston. Paul changed his career to become a commercial artist, and later legally changed his name to Paul Gull. Katerina was able to reconnect with her mother and sister when they all moved to Roslindale, and with a wider Eastern European community through her church. Several of these many lifelong friends had also been in the same labor camp in Austria.
Paul and Katerina purchased a house on Metropolitan Avenue where she lived for forty-eight years. With loving care, she raised her children Vera and Peter. She also maintained a career of over three decades as a sales associate for Bradlees department store at the Dedham Mall. She became proficient in English and enjoyed entertainment on television, shopping for bargains and cooking delicious foods from her ethnic tradition and beyond, and tending her garden and houseplants. Along with her long-time friends, she enjoyed a friendly relationship with her attentive neighbors in her Roslindale neighborhood. Former neighbors and friends never lost a place in her heart, and she kept in touch with many of them over the years. Young children, birds and animals often provoked Katerina’s beautiful smile, which she also shared with the kind and generous people in her life.
Katerina was widowed in 1991, and too soon suffered the loss of her dear mother, Irina Radionow, and sister, Maria Myz. Her daughter Vera predeceased her in 2008, a profound loss which Katerina never ceased mourning. Over many years, she received comfort from the dedicated support and love of her son, Peter Gulaiev, and his wife Jane Hennedy of Blackstone, Massachusetts. Frequent communication with her three grandchildren, the children of her late daughter Vera Cabuzzi, was a constant source of happiness for her. She leaves a legacy of love and family unity to Christopher Cabuzzi, his wife Danielle and their children Zachary, Zoe and Jacob of Peyton, CO; to Corinna Cabuzzi and her partner David Ybarrondo of Vista, CA; and to Philip John Cabuzzi and his daughter Lyla, of Bonsall, CA. Early in her grandchildren’s lives, Babka’s home was their home, and they maintained a closeness despite any geographic distance. Similarly, she kept in contact with her step-daughter by her husband’s first marriage, Ludmilla Cherednichok of Kiev, Ukraine, and with other family in Belarus. Katerina’s late niece and husband, Alla and Joseph Vatalaro of New Hampshire, provided many happy family connections which continued with great-nephews Dean and Mark of Nashua, NH along with Mark’s wife Gretchen and their children Evan and Rory. Her son’s in-laws, the numerous Hennedy family of Massachusetts and Rhode Island, also embraced her with open arms. Though she saw the loss of so many family and friends in her long lifetime, she will be missed and remembered by many still.
Visiting hours will take place on Friday, December 19 from 4:00 p.m. to 6:00 p.m. at P.E. Murray-F.J. Higgins Funeral Home at 2000 Centre Street in West Roxbury, followed by a service at 7:00 p.m. at the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Epiphany, 863 South Street in Roslindale. The funeral will take place on Saturday, December 20 at the church beginning at 12 noon, followed by burial at the Gardens at Gethsemane in West Roxbury, and a collation at the church.