Mikhail Timofeevich met his future wife, Ekaterina Moiseeva, in 1943 on a test range near Moscow when she was not yet 22 years old. She worked there as a draftswoman in a design bureau. Later, when Mikhail was also employed with this design bureau the young people decided to get married. By that time Katya already had a daughter by the first marriage whose name was Nelli. The Kalashnikov couple was lodged in the plant dormitory in a room with an area of just 12 square meters. In 1948 a daughter called Lena was born into the family of the Kalashnikovs. By that time Mikhail Timofeevich was already in Izhevsk working on an experimental series of the AK-47.
Mikhail Kalashnikov used to recollect that his wife was a fine, kind, charming person, a good mother for their children. For Mikhail’s elder son Victor by the first marriage she was like a birthmother. The lad grew up in the atmosphere of care and attention.
Ekaterina invented and maintained family traditions. During the New Year festivities there was always a natural fragrant fir-tree in the Kalashnikovs’ home. Ekaterina always chose it herself: she put some of the children onto the sledge and went to the bazaar. There she chose a tall fir-tree up to the ceiling and brought it home on the sledge.
After just entering the apartment Mikhail Timofeevich could smell unfrozen fir-needles mixed with the wafts from the kitchen where all possible delicacies were being cooked for the festive table. Parents with the children were decorating the fir-tree hanging lights, toys, toffees and walnuts wrapped in silvery foil. Each wanted to hide the ‘coveted’ toy in a shy nook in order to win in the family game ‘Find the toy on the fir-tree by description’. Mikhail was fond of such family scenes very much and wrote about them in his memoirs lovingly.
The Kalashnikovs also had a tradition of making home-made food stocks. Pickled or marinated vegetables for the winter were part of common family business. The family was always doing it all together and with great care. Given the busyness of Mikhail Timofeevich, even such mundane affairs turned for the family into a festive occasion. Ekaterina Victorovna was a city dweller and did not know all the intricacies of pickling, but she learned all pretty fast. Barrels were always prepared, disinfected and boiled off by Mikhail Timofeevich himself. Then the barrels were lowered into the cellar with participation of all the family and the neighbours. All winter the Kalashnikovs and their relatives ate pickles enjoying vegetables not only on holidays, but also on week days. As Mikhail Timofeevich told personally, they were not well-to-do enough to afford buying them in shops, besides, such pickled delicacies were not on sale there anyway.
Touching family reminiscences were especially dear to Mikhail Timofeevich because Ekaterina Victorovna died early at the age of 55, having raised and brought up four children.
Mikhail Kalashnikov used to recollect that his wife was a fine, kind, charming person, a good mother for their children. For Mikhail’s elder son Victor by the first marriage she was like a birthmother. The lad grew up in the atmosphere of care and attention.
Ekaterina invented and maintained family traditions. During the New Year festivities there was always a natural fragrant fir-tree in the Kalashnikovs’ home. Ekaterina always chose it herself: she put some of the children onto the sledge and went to the bazaar. There she chose a tall fir-tree up to the ceiling and brought it home on the sledge.
After just entering the apartment Mikhail Timofeevich could smell unfrozen fir-needles mixed with the wafts from the kitchen where all possible delicacies were being cooked for the festive table. Parents with the children were decorating the fir-tree hanging lights, toys, toffees and walnuts wrapped in silvery foil. Each wanted to hide the ‘coveted’ toy in a shy nook in order to win in the family game ‘Find the toy on the fir-tree by description’. Mikhail was fond of such family scenes very much and wrote about them in his memoirs lovingly.
The Kalashnikovs also had a tradition of making home-made food stocks. Pickled or marinated vegetables for the winter were part of common family business. The family was always doing it all together and with great care. Given the busyness of Mikhail Timofeevich, even such mundane affairs turned for the family into a festive occasion. Ekaterina Victorovna was a city dweller and did not know all the intricacies of pickling, but she learned all pretty fast. Barrels were always prepared, disinfected and boiled off by Mikhail Timofeevich himself. Then the barrels were lowered into the cellar with participation of all the family and the neighbours. All winter the Kalashnikovs and their relatives ate pickles enjoying vegetables not only on holidays, but also on week days. As Mikhail Timofeevich told personally, they were not well-to-do enough to afford buying them in shops, besides, such pickled delicacies were not on sale there anyway.
Touching family reminiscences were especially dear to Mikhail Timofeevich because Ekaterina Victorovna died early at the age of 55, having raised and brought up four children.
