Petr Rivkin

Our parents, mother Sima Rivkin age of 86 1937-2023 and father Petr Rivkin age of 85 1936-2022, of city Wheeling, Illinois passed away peacefully surrounded by their family. They passed away one year apart. It is with deep sorrow that the Oleg Rivkin and Viktoriya Rivkin announce the passing of our beloved parents. Sima Rivkin and Petr Rivkin, who left us too soon. Mother and Father were both born in city Kiev, Ukraine. Life in Ukraine was hard. My father only had his mother Luba Baitman who raised him and his sister after World War II. We had to immigrate to Ukraine in 1991. Oleg came here earlier. The Soviet Union was about to collapse. So we made it here just in time. My parents were grateful to USA for being able to live and express religion. In the Soviet Union, that was big no no. My father played in orchestra. He knew how to play clarinet. So he joined the band while in the army. My father loved life. He loved to travel, but mostly he loved nature and fishing. My mother joined him in his fishing adventures. They loved their granddaughter, Karina Rivkin. Karina has two beautiful kids, Desi and Sasha. My parents loved to spend time with her when she was little. Being an immigrant from Ukraine was hard in the beginning. My father had to start driving a car when he was 50 years of age. He was able to accomplish this task. He even taught me how to drive. My mom stayed at home and cooked and cleaned. But sometimes she would join me and my dad on our trips to Caribbean Islands by boat. This was the first trip that we took together. My dad loved to gather mushrooms and showed us which ones are edible. In Ukraine it was hard to find produce sometimes and that’s how some people survived. My parents just loved to be around nature. Here in United States my parents continued this tradition. We remember them always and will continue to fish and love life and this country.