HEROES OF SOCIALIST LABOR
SHIKUNETS
Olga Silvestrovna
Shikunets Olga Silvestrovna was born on April 21, 1937 in the village of Berezhnoe, Stolin district, in a family of farmers. In addition to Olga, there were seven more children in the family of Sylvester Andreevich and Matryona Andreevna Tsur.
During the Great Patriotic War, her two brothers Oles and Leonid died at the front. Her father also did not return from the war. From the age of seven, Olga Silvestrovna helped her mother with housekeeping, who had to do both men's and women's work. Her sister Raisa was taken to work in Germany.
Olga loved to study, but the difficult post-war times did not give her such an opportunity. Her childhood ended very early. After finishing 5 grades, Olga went to work on a collective farm to feed her family, at that time she was 13 years old. Olga was responsible beyond her years and saw things through to the end. At the age of 16, she received her first award for her work – a bronze medal at the All-Union Agricultural Exhibition. She married Alexander Shikunts. In 1957, her daughter Raisa was born, in 1958 – Nina, in 1962 – son Mikhail.
Since 1956, she worked as a field worker at the Lenin collective farm, from 1959 to 1961 she worked as a milkmaid, from 1962 to 1991 she worked as a calf-keeper. The title of Hero of Socialist Labor was awarded in 1966 for achievements in increasing productivity and procurement of meat, milk and other agricultural products. The high title added more responsibility for her work.
She was repeatedly elected as a deputy of the Brest Regional, Stolin District Council of Deputies. She was awarded the Order of Lenin and medals. She was a winner of socialist labor and was elected as a delegate to the 25th Congress of the CPSU.
A memorial plaque was unveiled at house No. 41 on Sovetskaya Street in the agrotown of Lyadets, where Olga Silvestrovna Shikunets lived, in 2012.
In the Lyadetskaya Secondary School, the information board contains the information “Our Land’s Vigil: Hero of Social Work Volha Silvestrovna Shikunets”.
She died on July 30, 2000. She was buried in the cemeteries in the agrotown of Lyadets.
KOVALETS
Nadezhda Ivanovna
Kovalets Nadezhda Ivanovna was born on May 20, 1927 in the village of Khilchitsy, Zhitkovichi District, Gomel Region. There was a war in her childhood, the most terrible years of devastation and suffering. The war ended and people returned to peaceful life. In the summer of 1947, Nadezhda Belko became a student at the Pinsk Teachers' Training Institute. After graduating in 1949, Nadezhda Ivanovna was sent as a teacher to the city of David-Gorodok. In 1950, she was transferred to the Bolshemaleshevskaya Secondary School as a teacher of Russian language and literature. In 1961, she entered the correspondence department of the Brest Pedagogical Institute named after A.S. Pushkin. Nadezhda Ivanovna Kovalets is a teacher by vocation. Love for children, knowledge of child psychology, the ability to see a grain of goodness and beauty in the soul of each student - this is what causes respect for her from others, and was noted with high state awards. For her merits in pedagogical work and education of students, N.I. Kovalets was awarded the Order of the Red Banner of Labor in 1976, and the Order of Lenin in 1978. In 1978, as a delegate to the All-Union Congress of Teachers, Nadezhda Ivanovna Kovalets received a gold star of the Hero of Socialist Labor in the Kremlin. The only Hero of Socialist Labor in the republic is a teacher. She shared her rich teaching experience not only with colleagues in Belarus. She was listened to in Moscow, Kaliningrad, Tashkent. Nadezhda Ivanovna Kovalets spoke to cosmonauts in Star City. Nadezhda Ivanovna has prepared a worthy replacement. More than 40 teachers continue her work in educational institutions. Children and grandchildren of N.I. Kovalets also connected their lives with pedagogy. Nadezhda Ivanovna - Honored Teacher of the Belarusian SSR, Excellent Public Education
By the decision of the Stolin District Council of Deputies in 2009, for many years of labor merits and a great personal contribution to the education of the district, she was awarded the title of "Honorary Citizen of the Stolin District".
She died on February 1, 2020. She was buried in the cemeteries in the agro-town of Bolshoe Maleshevo.
SEDLYAR
Mikhail Vasilyevich
Sedlyar Mikhail Vasilyevich was born on October 13, 1920 in the village of Remel. From the first days of the war he was a member of an underground organization. After the liberation of Stolin region, Mikhail Sedlyar carried out assignments of the David-Gorodok military registration and enlistment office and at the same time studied to become a military instructor. In October 1944, he was sent to study in the Moscow motor regiment, and in the spring of 1945 he received a driver's license. In an old ZIL, he served as part of the 3rd Belorussian Front in the Baltics. He took part in the 222nd Red Banner Motor Brigade in the war with Japan. For exemplary performance of combat missions, he was awarded the medals "For Courage" and "For Military Services".
After demobilization, Mikhail Vasilyevich got married, built a house, and together with his wife raised a son and two daughters. Since 1948 he has been working in the collective farm "Zavety Lenina" in the Stolin district. At first he worked as a driver, since 1957 - foreman of the field brigade, since 1969 - deputy chairman of the collective farm "Zavety Lenina". In 1970 he graduated from the Pruzhany state farm-technical school in absentia, specializing in "agronomy". 1980-1986 - chairman of the collective farm trade union committee. Three times he was a participant in the Exhibition of Achievements of the National Economy in Moscow. The title of Hero of Socialist Labor was awarded in 1966 for success in increasing the production and procurement of grain and forage crops. He was a delegate to the 26th Congress of the Communist Party of Belarus (March 1966) and the 23rd Congress of the CPSU (March-April 1966). In 1969, Mikhail Vasilyevich was a delegate to the III Congress of Collective Farmers of the Byelorussian SSR. In June 1975, he was elected as a deputy of the Stolin District Council of Workers' Deputies. He was awarded: the Order of the Great Patriotic War, 2nd class, medals "For the Victory over Germany in the Great Patriotic War of 1941-1945", "For the Victory over Japan", the Order of Lenin (1966), "For Valiant Labor in Celebration of the 100th Anniversary of the Birth of V.I. Lenin" (1970).
He died on February 4, 2008 and was buried in his native village.
Leonid Romanenko (Pinsk 2005) wrote about Mikhail Vasilyevich in his book “From the Depths of Palessia”, article “Against Two Wars”.
From 2015 to 2018, the Remelskaya Secondary School implemented an innovative project “Implementation of the Model of Oral Historical Research of the Native Land as a Means of Developing Students’ Social and Civil Competencies”. As a result of the project, a disk was created and in the materials on the topic “History of the Creation and Development of the Kolkhoz “Lenin’s Testaments from 1946 to 1992” there is information about Mikhail Vasilyevich Sedlyar.
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