LIUDA KRIVAITYTĖ-SENUTIENĖ (1921-2021) was born in Kaunas in 1921. She graduated from the teachers' seminary in Ukmerge. Not long after, Vilnius region returned to Lithuania and there was a great shortage of Lithuanian teachers in the capital. Feeling a duty to help Lithuania, Liuda moved to Vilnius and taught at Darius and Girėnas school. In Vilnius, Liuda experienced the joy of a reborn Lithuania, survived the Russian occupation and deportations, and the German occupation and famine. As the Russian army approached, the family, pushing baby Gedimon's stroller, with suitcases in hand, fled from Vilnius just two days before the Russian invasion. If the young family had stayed in Vilnius, they would have been deported to Siberia - they were already on the deportation lists.
The family retreated to Germany, where they were assigned to the Hanau war refugee camp. Liuda worked at a Lithuanian school there. in 1949 after coming to America, the family settled in Brockton, MA. Two more sons were born in Brockton - Algimantas and Vytenis.
Teaching was a breath of fresh air in Liuda's life, and, after the family, the most important duty and greatest joy. She used to say that the school is full of positive energy and she is happy that, by passing on love and knowledge about Lithuania to the students, she fulfills her patriotic duty to the motherland. Throughout her life, Liuda taught for 69 years, from 1938 to 2007, not counting the interruptions of the war.
Liuda's sons Algimantas and Vytenis with his wife Danguole, grandchildren Augustas, Lina, Daina and Audra are proud of their mother's and grandmother's dedication to the family and the Lithuanian school and cherish the love for the Lithuanian language, culture and history instilled by her.
