An unknown photographer depicted Sergey and Agafya Popov, Vasily Shukshin’s maternal grandparents, on this picture. The photo was made in the beginning of the 20th century at a photo shop in Biysk. In 1986, Popovs’ daughter Anna Kozlova donated this photograph to the museum’s collection.
Sergey and Agafya Popov (née Kholmanskaya) moved to Altai from Samara province. According to 1917 All-Russian Census, farmer Popov went to Siberia in 1897. He was able to read and write.
The Popov family lived close to the place, where Katun cultural and leisure centre is situated nowadays. This district used to be called Mordva. In total, they had 12 children, five of whom died at a young age.
Shukshin respected traditional patriarchal way of life in his grandparents’ home. He wrote in A Word on my Homeland article: “There was ease in granddad”s home, there was total freedom. I haven”t seen such clear, simple, and complete rationale anywhere else, as there was in the home of my farmer-grandfather. I haven”t seen such natural, truthful, and essentially kind relationships between people anywhere else. I remember jokes and songs living in the house during holidays. People used to work a whole lot there. The entire life revolved around work. It began early in the morning and subsided late at night, yet it did not depress people, it did not embitter — they went to bed with it and got up in the morning to continue the cycle. Nobody bragged about their performance; noone got insulted for a mistake, but taught… They knew everything about a person”s life and fortitude, and about one”s misery: a lie is a lie, greed is greed, idleness, ranting. Arrogance, bragging, envy — all these traits were in plain sight, and nobody could hide behind words or tricks. I am not trying to fool anyone here by painting an ideal picture of life, it was indeed far from that. However, truth and justice have always remained its cornerstone’.
The Popovs’ granddaughter Natalya Zinovyeva often remembered her grandfather. She wrote: “He was a good grandfather, kind, wise, able to help somehow when things got overwhelming — with both action and a clever advice”.
The Popovs got buried together at an old cemetery in Srostki village.
Sergey and Agafya Popov (née Kholmanskaya) moved to Altai from Samara province. According to 1917 All-Russian Census, farmer Popov went to Siberia in 1897. He was able to read and write.
The Popov family lived close to the place, where Katun cultural and leisure centre is situated nowadays. This district used to be called Mordva. In total, they had 12 children, five of whom died at a young age.
Shukshin respected traditional patriarchal way of life in his grandparents’ home. He wrote in A Word on my Homeland article: “There was ease in granddad”s home, there was total freedom. I haven”t seen such clear, simple, and complete rationale anywhere else, as there was in the home of my farmer-grandfather. I haven”t seen such natural, truthful, and essentially kind relationships between people anywhere else. I remember jokes and songs living in the house during holidays. People used to work a whole lot there. The entire life revolved around work. It began early in the morning and subsided late at night, yet it did not depress people, it did not embitter — they went to bed with it and got up in the morning to continue the cycle. Nobody bragged about their performance; noone got insulted for a mistake, but taught… They knew everything about a person”s life and fortitude, and about one”s misery: a lie is a lie, greed is greed, idleness, ranting. Arrogance, bragging, envy — all these traits were in plain sight, and nobody could hide behind words or tricks. I am not trying to fool anyone here by painting an ideal picture of life, it was indeed far from that. However, truth and justice have always remained its cornerstone’.
The Popovs’ granddaughter Natalya Zinovyeva often remembered her grandfather. She wrote: “He was a good grandfather, kind, wise, able to help somehow when things got overwhelming — with both action and a clever advice”.
The Popovs got buried together at an old cemetery in Srostki village.
