I come from the village of Andreevka, Berezansky district, Nikolaev region. Our village had its own primary (up to the fourth grade) school. Two classes studied in the morning, two in the afternoon.
The teacher Raisa Kuzminichna Kapatsin came from the village of Adamovka, which is three kilometers from us.
To shorten the path, she did not go through Andreevka itself, but along the path that passed at the end of the vegetable gardens. The teacher was ill, she had epileptic seizures, but she had to work - she lived with an old mother.
Often in the classroom she felt bad. We children did not understand what to do, sat quietly like mice and waited for the attack to pass.
The winter from 1951 to 1952 was cold and fierce. The snow poured on a level with the houses. But people went to work in the regional center Berezan from nearby villages both in the rain and in the blizzard. On such a blizzard frosty day, six people went to work. They walked in single file, taking turns at the head of the column. One of the men, Leonid Vasilyevich Kondratsky, without expecting it, saved the life of our teacher.
As he said, when he approached the school, he was stopped by a voice from above:
- You will go to the bottom, vegetable gardens, we must save her!
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Leonid stopped, thought that only our teacher was walking down. It must have become ill for her. His comrades began to dissuade, they say, the path cannot be passed because of the snow. But he separated from the group and went to school. The teacher was not yet there. The cleaning lady lit the stove and cleaned.
Leonid Vasilyevich understood everything and went downstairs. But when he reached the end of the gardens, he did not meet anyone. Looked around - also nobody. And the voice says to him again:
- Save her.
He looks - to the side of the path some kind of hillock. He began to shovel the snow, and under it lies our teacher. She felt bad, she fell, and she was covered with snow. He began to scrub her hands and face - nothing helped. Then he carried her on him. When tired, dragged along. Fall and rise again. Although the teacher was sick, she was very difficult.
At this time, Uncle Mitya, the father of my classmate, went to the well to get water and saw all this. He called his wife, Aunt Polya, and they ran to help. They brought Raisa Kuzminichna into the house and began to scrub her. She came to her senses.
Leonid went to work, informed the teacher's mother through the staff so that she would not worry about her daughter. And Raisa Kuzminichna was given tea (we drank tea only with mint and chamomile - these herbs grew on every household plot), warmed up. And on the second day she went to school again.
Raisa Kuzminichna has learned more than one generation of children. She died in 1985, leaving the best memories for her students and people who know her. Bow down to her. I believe that the Guardian Angel himself saved our teacher.
Tamila P. ZHIDENKO, Nikolaev, Ukraine