“Why Lithuania?” Stephanie Zimmermann’s editor asked her. I’ve been on the receiving end of that question for the last 10 years. My body could feel the jolt she described feeling when a roadside sign matched a name in her grandparents’ memoir; it was replaying my second trip to Lithuania when I visited Anykščiai for the first time.
I have chased that same thread across Lithuania more times than I can count. In 2016, I joined a company founded by Lithuanian immigrants in Chicago, unaware of my own family connection to the country. That summer, before my first trip, my uncle Steven Kowalsky handed me a handwritten letter from his father, Larry, born Khona Leyzys Kovalskis, which told his immigration story from Lithuania to the United States.
Larry was born in Anykščiai, the son and grandson of the town blacksmith. The family lived on a wooden-house street later renamed for the aviators Steponas Darius and Stasys Girėnas, just over 60 miles from the capital city of Vilnius.
In 2017, on my second trip, my Lithuanian co-workers drove me to Anykščiai. Using a letter from my great uncle Larry as my map, I found the exact corner where his mother once kept her grocery store. I stood where, as a boy, he had run to the river and the great boulder called Puntukas.
Larry, his mother and most of his siblings reached America. His father and one sister did not and were killed after the Germans came.
Larry’s memoir was published in Lithuania in a collection titled “Gyvieji tiltai” — Living Bridges. Both Larry and Steven have passed away, but I know they would both be happy and proud that Lithuania has become such a significant part of my own story. In 2024, I joined the founding team at Gritmind, where I am a partner and head of artificial intelligence products. We are co-headquartered in Kaunas, Vilnius and Chicago. In my own way I’m continuing to bridge our family’s past and present.
Next summer, I hope to bring my own family to that corner in Anykščiai, so the bridge reaches one more generation.
Laura Graves, Jefferson Park
More Stars coverage, please
It’s wonderful to see the close attention the Sun-Times pays to the Chicago Sky. Nevertheless, the Sky aren’t the only women’s game in town. The National Women’s Soccer League has a team here: the Chicago Stars. The Sun-Times’ coverage of this team is virtually nonexistent. This failure exists despite the presence of Mallory Swanson, an internationally known athlete in Chicago sports. Shame!
Bert Rice, Edgewater
Brush up on ‘The Odyssey’ before watching film
If you’re thinking about seeing “The Odyssey,” get CliffsNotes first. Watching the almost three-hour epic with my wife showed how little one really learns through the embellished movies over the years. Maybe Homer and other classics should be back on the required reading lists.
Walt Gorman, Bridgeport