Anna Sergeyevna Maltseva of Boston, formerly of Moscow, Russia, died peacefully surrounded by her loving family on November 4, 2016, just a month short of her 99th birthday. She is survived by her two children, four grandchildren, and four great-grandchildren both of Boston, MA, and Moscow, Russia.
Anna was born in a small village near the historic town of Tara in the heart of Siberia, Russia, into a hard-working family with five children. Her childhood was very ascetic, living in a small hut without running water or electricity and based on self-reliance and community spirit. Up to the day she died, she talked about the breath-taking and pristine beauty of Siberia, which had formed her stoic spirit and enduring love of nature. Despite poverty and harshness, Anna developed rich imagination and creativity, as well as a tremendous love of learning. Since schooling was limited in her small village, she left it at the age of 10 to stay with a host family in the town of Tara to continue her education, sleeping under a stairwell and helping with house chores. She went on to earn a teacher’s certificate in early education and worked in an orphanage.
She met her husband Nicolay while he was on an agricultural piloting assignment in Tara, and they remained happily married for over 60 years until his death in 2001. Her husband became a highly decorated and respected veteran who served for over 40 years in the Russian military and civil aviation. For a period of time, Anna also worked part-time for the Russian airline, Aeroflot. Anna was her husband’s source of stability through those years and through multiple relocations, and she dedicated herself to raising their two children and then grandchildren and great-grandchildren. Although she did not realize her dream of a college education, she took great pride in seeing her children and grandchildren pursue college and advanced degrees.
Anna was an avid reader. She especially liked Charles Dickens in Russian translation and owned a full collection of his works. She also enjoyed museums and ballets. She taught herself sewing in her early youth and became an accomplished seamstress, designing and sewing beautiful outfits, from ballet tutus to coats, for her extended family from scratch and often from scraps. She loved creating, in her words, “something out of nothing” on her ancient sewing machine. She also routinely mended, shortened, trimmed, and retailored clothes for her husband’s colleagues, distant relatives, and neighbors without compensation during the sparse years in the Soviet Union.
After immigrating to Boston in 1993, Anna and her husband continued to live frugally but marveled at the conveniences and abundance of American society. Anna spent her last years at the Hebrew Rehabilitation Center in West Roxbury, where she had a smile for everyone around her and enjoyed walks in the adjacent Arnold Arboretum. She was a family matriarch, a dedicated nurturer, and a strong Siberian spirit who was rarely sick and who delighted in helping everyone around her. She will be greatly missed by all who loved her.
Visitation will be held in the P.E. Murray - F.J. Higgins, George F. Doherty & Sons Funeral Home 2000 Centre St. West Roxbury on Friday, Nov. 11th from 11am-12Noon followed by a private burial.