Tatyana Kurennaya

Tatyana Mikhailovna Kurennaya (née Fedorova), 71, passed away on Friday, July 19, 2024, in Los Alamos, New Mexico.

Tatyana was born on May 13, 1953, in Kalinin (Tver’), Russia, to Mikhail and Evgeniya Fedorov. She also lived with her grandmother, Anna Nikishina, in Serpukhov, during her school years. Tatyana received her master’s degree in mechanical engineering from the Moscow Energy Institute in 1977. She moved to Protvino, Moscow Region, with her son, Denis Kulakov. There she met her husband, Sergey Kurennoy. Tatyana and Sergey married on May 7, 1982. In Protvino, Tatyana worked as a mechanical engineer for fifteen years.

Tatyana and Sergey moved to the United States in 1992 with their two children, Sergey and Anya. After spending a year and a half in Texas, the family moved to Maryland and then settled in Los Alamos in 1996.

Although Tatyana’s primary occupation in the United States was as a homemaker, she received her real estate license in 1995 and proudly sold a house to a fellow immigrant family in Maryland. After moving to Los Alamos, she also worked part-time for the Los Alamos National Laboratory as a translator and interpreter. Many visiting Russian scientists and artists recall her warm hospitality. She was a talented artist, practicing ceramics and silk painting at the Fuller Lodge Art Center and filling her home with art inspired by Russia and New Mexico. Tatyana always enjoyed music. In the 1970s and ’80s she loved rock. In the Soviet Union she organized a discotheque and was a disk jockey. Sergey and Tatyana met at the music club of the Protvino House of Scientists. Later in her life, she enjoyed classical music and opera. Her favorite classical composers were Mozart and, later, J.S. Bach.

She was an accomplished and adventurous cook, perfecting recipes from a range of world cuisines. She enjoyed making dishes from her native Eastern Europe, but was also fond of French and Italian cooking. Her bookshelves were full of cookbooks, and often these recipes ended up on the dinner table. Tatyana was committed to the nightly tradition of sitting down to dinner together, often with wine. In addition to cookbooks, Tatyana loved to read. She loved Russian classics, especially Lev Tolstoy, and also enjoyed genres as wide ranging as philosophy, history, art, and travel guides.

Tatyana was an avid traveler, often visiting her favorite destinations multiple times. During her life she traveled to many places including Italy, Spain, France, Greece, Germany, England, Austria, the Netherlands, Peru, Denmark, Belgium, China, South Korea, and Japan. By far her favorite destination was Italy; she traveled there ten times. She and her husband also traveled to Mexico almost every year. She loved art, and through her travels she was able to realize her dream of traveling to museums to see the sculptures and artworks she admired in her youth. She passed down her love of cooking, travel, and art to her children.

Her family warmly remembers her vivid storytelling, her fierce independence, her healthy disregard for authority, her impeccable fashion sense, and her sharp sense of humor in any situation.

She was preceded in death by her parents, Mikhail and Evgeniya Fedorov, her grandmother, Anna Nikishina, her sister, Yelena Letschenko, and her son, Denis Kulakov, who tragically died in a car accident in 1996 at age 24.

She is survived by her husband, Sergey Kurennoy, of Los Alamos; son, Sergey Kurennoy, Jr. (and his wife, Olga Tyunina); daughter, Anya Kurennaya (and her husband, Morgan Auld); and grandsons, Ivan Kurennoy and Igor Kurennoy.

According to Tatyana’s wishes, her remains will be cremated in a private ceremony. In lieu of flowers, we invite you to celebrate her life with a toast – she would love it.

The family of Tatyana Mikhailovna Kurennaya has entrusted the care of their loved one to DeVargas Funeral Home & Crematory of the beautiful Espanola Valley. www.devargasfuneral.com 505-747-7477