a portion of Lithuania Remembered - rebroadcast on April 1, 2004
Meet one of THE LITHUANIANS, Regina Petrutis of Cape Cod Massachusetts in her own woirds..
Monday August 17, 2009
Well, here goes - maybe you can edit all this
.
I was born in Kaunas, lived and went to grade school in Vilnius.
Fled Lithuania in 1944 (as a minor) with my mother, Valerie NorvaiĊĦiene.
Spent the war in Germany, later in displaced persons camp, in Kassel-Mattenberg.
Arrived in the US in 1949, went to South Boston, some relatives of my mom's
good friend came through with documents for us.
Otherwise we would have gone to New Zealand.
My formative years were spent in South Boston - a very busy community at that time.
I joined everything - dance group, drama club, etc. Was a church choir member for 10 years.
Went to live in Washington DC when I married Alfonsas Peturits who worked for the US government - Voice of America broadcasting - all in Lithuanian. Lived there for 30 years and raised a family.
My mother in the meantime had a summer place on Cape Cod where all Lithuanians
came to spend their vacations - 1950 to 1958. My husband was one of the them.
When he retired in 1986 we came to live in Cape Cod.
Both of us were active in the Cape Cod Lithuanian Community -
My husband and I were presidents of the group.
After I lost my husband and my mother, I rested for a few years and now have again
become president of Cape's Lithuanian Community. That's where you will find me now.
Regina P.
Editors Note: I can blame Regina for introducing me to several Lithuanian Yahoo Groups
and getting my juices flowing on the computer post heart operation in 1999.
Regina is the life line of the Lithuanian American Community on Cape Cod and is constantly helping fellow Lithuanians with any problems or issues they might have. She is there for them..
She and Alfonsas are part of the generation that kept Lithuania alive in the USA.
http://www.thelithuanians.com/
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