By Connie Cone Sexton -- The Arizona Republic -- June 27, 2002 -- page B7

Before Alzheimer's took its toll, before old age slowed him down, longtime Glendale farmer Mike Pete Tolmachoff delighted in welcoming friends and family into his modest home.

Mike Tolmachoff spent his life farming in Glendale. He found joy in leading an uncomplicated life.

He would take his place at the head of a small kitchen table, always choosing the chair closest the heating vent. In a mix of Russian and English, he'd chat about the day's events, sometimes falling back to stories of how his family had fled persecution in the homeland, finding solace in America.

Tolmachoff, who learned to live off the land, never developed a taste for the extravagant. He found joy in leading an uncomplicated life, steeped in the love of family.

Those loved ones are thankful for his ideals as they remember his life. Tolmachoff died May 27. The Glendale resident was 90.

He was buried about a [1/4] mile from his home in the Russian Molokan Cemetery, a one-acre fenced parcel sandwiched between houses [delete] at 75th and Maryland avenues. It has become the resting place for many Russian families and for members of the Molokans religious group, descendents of Russian peasants who formed their own sect after refusing to join the Russian Orthodox Church in the 1600s.

Tolmachoff's mother and father, Peter and Mary, came to America in 1912, arriving at the railroad depot in Glendale ready for a new way of life. He was their firstborn, born May 11, 1912. He later would gain five brothers and three sisters, including Mary, who married developer John F. Long.

Those were hard times for the Tolmachoffs, even before the Depression, and much of the responsibilities fell on Mike, as the eldest son. Although it was tradition for the firstborn son to get a full education, Tolmachoff finished only eight years of school. There was too much work to do on the farm, even with so many siblings.

They grew grain, barley, wheat and maize, and melon, lettuce and lots of carrots. There were dairy cows in the barn.

Despite the hard work, Tolmachoff had to pull himself away for church. But there was time, too, for recreation. In his youth, he was a pretty good baseball player, keeping runners from making it past second base.

He wasn't terribly tall, about 5 feet 8 inches, but his blue eyes and dark hair were striking.

His kindness was enough for Vera Popoff. They married in the 1930s. A year after she died of cancer in 1960, Tolmachoff remarried.

His children are thankful they grew up around an affable man, someone who loved people and made them feel welcome in his home.

They loved that he liked to sing little songs in Russian and they loved that he even spoke to the cows in his native tongue.

And they loved when his face would be aglow as he told stories like the one from the 1920s when bank robbers rode the train to Glendale and jumped off with a bag of gold.

Tolmachoff believed it was buried somewhere in the township of the Russian families.

"He loved telling us about that," said his daughter-in-law, Vicki Tolmachoff. "When I asked him if he knew where it was buried, he'd laugh and say, 'That's what I'd like to know.' "

Survivors include wife, Anna [Nura]; sons Jim, Phil and Michael; daughters Pearl Kalpakoff and Manya Nazaroff; brother, John; sister, June Wren; 21 grandchildren; and 24 great-grandchildren.

A Life Remembered celebrates the lives of interesting people in Arizona who have recently passed away. To suggest someone, call Connie Sexton at (602) 444-8894 or e-mail remembered@arizonarepublic.com.