I met Sergei Kourdakov 40 years ago when I worked as a
secretary for the Federal Government in the Washington DC area. I was 21, the same age as Sergei. My boss introduced us when Sergei visited our
office in Rosslyn, VA in the fall of 1972.
There was an instant attraction and Sergei and I saw each other as often
as possible from September until just before his tragic death on January 1,
1973. Our story is one of joy, love and
heart break. It is a story that I have
seldom discussed. Time has a way of
changing everything though. The
controversy surrounding his life and death, even after all these years, has
weighed heavily on me. It is my hope
that by telling this story in A Rose for
Sergei that some understanding of the person Sergei had become will shed
some light on his miraculous life. I
know I could not have attempted to write this story at any other time in my
life. Timing really is everything.
