Zen and the art of ATEC maintenance

Shelyagovich raises family in Grant County

MOSES LAKE — Sergey Shelyagovich is bustling through Big Bend Community College's ATEC Building the morning of Dec. 9.

It's about 10 a.m., and he has to mop the floors and clean the sinks and mirrors in the restrooms, as well as vacuum, dismantle a dance floor and set up tables and chairs for a noon event.

Usually, he would be the only maintenance worker in the building on a Saturday, but things are busier during the holiday season, he notes. There are several employees working extra hours, helping him prepare the facility.

Born in Pinsk, Belarus; Shelyagovich left home at the age of 15, when he was hired by the Russian government to get an education at the Leningrad military academy and work. That's where he met his wife of 25 years, Nadia, who was not living very far from the academy. For two of his 15 years in Leningrad, Shelyagovich was in the military.

"The main reason why we moved from there to here was religious persecution," Shelyagovich said. The Russian government does not recognize and appreciate Protestants, he explained. "They don't really want them in their system."

As soon as the Shelyagovichs found an opportunity to escape the Communist regime, they took it. The border was open to leave the country in 1988, and they moved a year later, with a delay due to paperwork.

"There you have to fill a bunch of paperwork and get permission to leave from your parents," Shelyagovich explained.

His parents declined because of his religious beliefs; they were estranged, he said. No parental permission typically means there's no opportunity to leave. But after a special interview with the head of the KGB to explain the situation, Sergey was allowed to leave 24 hours later.

"I believe that we were really, really tough with them," he said. "Some people afraid to talk with such kind of people, with KGB especially. And we were not afraid. We were talking with them seriously, openly and without any fear."

Shelyagovich worried about getting through other countries on the way to America with Nadia, since he only spoke Belarusian and Russian. But the couple found people who were helping travelers make similar treks, as Jewish and Christian Protestants were leaving the former USSR republics in droves at the time. Over the years, many of those people moved to the Sacramento, Portland, Seattle and Spokane areas, Shelyagovich said.

For a while, Shelyagovich was afraid to return home because of the KGB and because the government thought the Shelyagovichs were moving to Israel, when in reality their paperwork enabled them to go into other foreign countries, where their visas were changed to allow them into America. Those Russian residents who fled the country and headed to America were considered traitors, and there's still some risk to returning to Belarus. But now people have begun to visit their relatives back home, Shelyagovich explained.

"I wasn't ready to go there for 10 years," he said. "Now I am ready, but for 10 years, I couldn't think of going back just to visit."

Back in Belarus, Shelyagovich's parents now wish to see him, something he is open to, but he needs to arrange the trip with his whole family, which would cost a lot of money.

"Maybe the next summer," Shelyagovich said. "My parents, they want us to come to visit. Seventeen years later, they become older. Everybody changed, the system changed."

After arriving in the United States, he and Nadia lived in Seattle for six-and-a-half years. Working in hospice care, Nadia was required to get a series of precautionary shots.

All Europeans receive a tuberculosis shot when they are young, Shelyagovich explained, and never again.

His wife became ill from the shot, and immediately developed five different allergies — to dogs, cats, feathers, dust mites and weeds. Doctors recommended moving from Seattle to a dryer area, such as Phoenix, Ariz. So the couple moved to Phoenix with their four children, then aged 14,13, 11 and 10. Shelyagovich's employer at a Marysville Albertson's, where he worked as a stockboy, arranged for him to find work in Phoenix.

"Wasn't true," Shelyagovich said. "Doctor was wrong."

They didn't stay for longer than a month. In fact, Phoenix residents told them Arizona was a good place to move to if someone wanted to develop an allergy and, indeed, Nadia picked up an allergy to mold. The 24-hour lifestyle of Phoenix, due to the heat and the quality of air, also proved a poor match for the Shelyagovich family.

The couple stayed with friends in Soap Lake for a while and fell in love with the lake itself, ultimately moving to the Moses Lake area in April 1996.

Nadia would swim in the lake, drink from the local fountain and was on a special diet.

"She went to swim in Soap Lake every day, and she spent most of the time in the summertime in the lake with kids," Shelyagovich said. "A year later, she was checked and no more allergies. Just sensitivities left."

Shelyagovich called the area a good place to raise his children, and said one of his favorite things to do is spend time with Nadia.

"You can see me everywhere with my wife," he said. "In store, everywhere. We like to spend time together."

When he's not working, his top priority is reading books and studying his English. He and Nadia read together, he said, take walks and go to outdoor events together. Shelyagovich also enjoys time with his children, traveling, hunting, fishing and skating.

Upon moving to the area, Shelyagovich , whose experience included welder and ironworker, found a job through a temporary agency as a welder at Inland Mechanical Corporation, where he worked for five years.

He began working at the ATEC Building in March 2005 after five years at Genie Industries and a few months of vacation in Florida, where he visited friends. He was hired as a maintenance worker for the building.

At ATEC, his responsibilities include maintaining the building on the weekends, where he prepares the facility for students on Monday, including set-up and custodial tasks, or cleaning after events on Saturday and Sunday. That ranges from light bulb changes to minor repairs, he explained.

"It's something new for me to do, and I can handle it, and I am pleased with it," he said.

He feels secure in the job, which is less stressful than some of his previous positions.

"You meet people every day here, students, employees, and management — I don't feel I am like a stranger here," he said. "I feel like I am at home."