She was diagnosed with lung cancer just a few weeks before Iola was born, and now she is gone. She will be so missed.

In just under two and half years, Barbara and Victor's children -- Kirill, Philip, Tamara, Anna and Masha -- have lost both parents to cancer. Anna and Masha are in college.

                          
Barbara is here at John and my wedding in October 2006. It's a fuzzy picture; I have to find a better one. She was one of mom's close friends. Her husband had died just six months before, and she had an aura of sadness and quiet that was a testament to a great love.