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It was only in 2017, after they both were deceased, that their children discovered a cache of more than 100 letters carefully stored in boxes in their family home. Most were written when Joseph was travelling around the world for business. He wanted to make sure that his wife and children felt his presence and knew how much he loved them and missed them. Jurate, Joseph, Michael and John Kazickas cherish this treasure and share excerpts from 12 letters along with some lovely pictures of their parents.

It was here, in Panevezys where J. P. Kazickas when he was 16, first laid eyes on the great love of his life, Alexandra Kalvenaite, a student of Panevezys Girls Gymnasium, playing a fierce game of basketball. Later, he saw her in a relay race. “She was fast. I could not forget the way the wind tossed her hair.”

It is very special for the Kazickas family to have this 100th year anniversary exhibit at the Gabriele Petkevicaite-Bite Library in Panevezys. Bite (1861-1943), a Lithuanian educator, writer and activist, lived in the same house of apartments as Alexandra Kalvenaite and her mother Veronica did. (The building still stands on Sv. Zitos street) It was fascinating for us to learn in later years that Bite ended up being Alexandra’s guardian and a role model. As a student, while her mother was at work, Alexandra would go have lunch with Bite at her apartment which she remembered in her memoirs of 1992: “Those were the most beautiful hours. The table was always beautifully set with a tablecloth and napkins. Table manners were always followed. We were served by a maid and all our conversations were high-minded, discussing the day’s events (culture, morals and education).”

Alexandra Kalvenas Kazickas graduated from the Panevezys Girls Gymnasium (currently Vytautas Zemkalnis Gymnasium) in 1937 and during her whole life she kept in contact with many of her friends and teachers. Alexandra met with some of them when she came back to Lithuania in 1975. She returned for high school reunions in 1987 and 1997. In 1987, Alexandra invited seven of her class-mates to her home in Cat Cay, Bahamas to celebrate their lifelong friendship.

After the reestablishment of Lithuania’s independence, dr. J. P. Kazickas would often accompany Alexandra on her trips to Panevezys. In 2001, the Kazickases donated funds to renovate the school attic and set up a reading area equipped with computers. In 2002, Alexandra established a literary award in memory of her Lithuanian Language and Literature teacher, a prominent linguist, Petras Butenas.

With Alexandra’s passing in 2011, the award, which was funded by Alexandra’s personal contributions, was discontinued. But thanks to the initiative of the Lithuanian Language Society (Panavezys branch) the Kazickas Family Foundation in 2018 re-established the Petras Butenas Literary Award and inaugurated the Alexandra Kazickas Diligence Award for the students of Panevezys V. Zemkalnis Gymnasium.

Exhibit will be open October 9, 2018 - Novenber 3, 2018.