Click photo to enlarge
Stephen Scandrett joins his wife, Lyudmila, and her
children, Yulia Kiseleva and Valentin Kiselev, of Russia,
following a citizenship ceremony at the Dunedin Public Art
Gallery yesterday. Photo by Linda Robertson.
He was an engineer, working in Dunedin. She was a
gynaecologist working near Moscow in Russia.
And thanks to a mutual friend in between, Stephen Scandrett
and Lyudmila Kiseleva were introduced.
The couple began a long friendship, writing letters to each
other on opposite sides of the globe.
"We were basically pen pals," Mr Scandrett said.
Inevitably, they decided it was time to meet.
They first laid eyes on each other in a Russian airport, and
the rest was history.
The pair were married in Moscow and became Mr and Mrs
Scandrett.
Together, with Mrs Scandrett's two children Yulia and
Valentin, they moved to Dunedin and this week the Russian
trio were among 32 people who became New Zealanders at a
citizenship ceremony at the Dunedin Public Art Gallery.
The new New Zealand citizens are. -Mr Dan Constantin Amza
(Romanian); Miss Renelle Yvas Angeles (Filipino); Mrs Cecily
Margaret Crack (American); Mrs Debra Ann Handcock (British);
Mrs Idah Rusununguko Koudayah (Zimbabwean); Mr Seungseup Lim,
Miss Jihyun Lim (Korean); Mr Jose Eleutherius Pinto
(British); Mrs Lyudmila Scandrett, Mr Valentin Kiselev, Miss
Yulia Kiseleva (Russian); Mr David Johannes Schoeman, Mrs Lee
Schoeman, Miss Storm Lurline Marian Schoeman, Master Ruarri
Patrick Daniel Schoeman (South African); Mr Albert Yates
(British); Mrs Margaret Rose Brockwell (British); Mrs Sylvia
Julia Carter (British); Ms Joan Elizabeth Eriksson
(Australian); Miss Katrina Ellen Lamont (Australian British);
Miss Stephanie Helen Goff (British); Miss Ara Ko (American);
Mrs Gunrup Kanwal Kocher, Miss Jasleen Kocher, Miss Jessica
Kocher (Indian); Mr Alexei Robert William McDowell (Russian);
Mr Garry Edward Gerard McLennan (British); Ms Deanna Marie
Pielak-Jones (Canadian); Ms Fung Lin Granly Sam (British
Overseas National); Mr Pak Hang Poon, Mr Cheuk Hang Poon
(British); Mr Richard Van Der Plas (Dutch).
