On a little table in the corner, there is a big picture of the former master of the flat, Apolinaras Povilaitis, a pinewood twig, and the twinkling flame of a candle. The door of the room is ajar. There is the wife of the deceased, Ona, and there are the children. She stops in front of the portrait, and as if it were a living person, quietly asks: how are we to live now?
After her father's death, Edita Povilaitytė, a student at the Technical University, still managed to pass two exams. The professor gave her a perfect grade for her knowledge of philosophy.
--We must be like our father was. Let's not shame him, - she warned her brothers.
Apolinaras Povilaitis is the eldest of those who were killed at the television tower that horrible night. He was only 54. This man with the kind-hearted smile had inherited a love of peace, but also the firm character of his clan, of which Vincas Kudirka, the herald of Lithuanian revival was a member. A. Kudirkaitė was Povilaitis' grandmother.
He grew up in a large family himself. He began to earn his own living early so
that he wouldn't have to take away from his brothers and sisters.
He began to work at a factory for some time. He couldn't stand it for long. He couldn't watch his co-workers snatch everything that they could get their hands on to take home. He used to reproach them. So they weren't pleased.
It was better for him at the telephone station. He used to work at night, and during the day he used to study and take care of the children.
The whole time he was at the Lithuanian Institute of Chemical Sciences and Chemical Technology. He was a locksmith, a reliable assistant to the scientific workers.
-At home I didn't have any troubles either: he could fix and make everything, -Ona Povilaitienė holds back her tears. - He made a wind power station in the garden. He also had plans with his oldest son to install running water in the cottage, and to make a radio transmitter that would signal if someone was breaking into the car... And no one is left to take care of the bees. They'll probably die.
-Why does a bullet choose an honest man first? Ona Povilaitienė repeats. -There are so many drunks, hooligans.
I could only say that such people don't go to places where they feel there is danger.
Apolinaras Povilaitis got his first christening" in the fight for independence in 1989 in Cathedral Square from a paratrooper's „banana". He was standing up for an old woman... But that didn't put a damper on his desire to be in the first ranks. He always used to be at Parliament and at the television tower.
When he saw his father in the coffin, the son collapsed. The wife managed somehow to stay on her feet. She was gazing into her husband's half-opened eyes, which had a look of inexpressible surprise in them. He didn't believe until the last second that they could shoot at an unarmed person.
- He is still alive to us. It seems like he'll open the door and walk in, - says Ona Povilaitienė.
Lithuania, 1991.01.13 : documents, testimonies, comments. - Vilnius : State Publishing Center, 1992, p. 59.