Livchin, 23, who perished in Wednesday's tornado on West Springfield's Main Street, was a merry prankster.
A photo of Sergey Livchin was placed at a memorial for him on Main Street in West Springfield, where he died during the June 1 tornado.WEST SPRINGFIELD – The weekend before he died in Wednesday’s tornado, Sergey Livchin cracked his family up by starting a water balloon fight during a cousin’s surprise birthday party.
“He was always fun. He had a smile on his face all day,” his sister Irina Livchina recalled during an interview Monday in the living room of their family home at 15 Labelle St.
She and her mother, Yelena, spoke lovingly of the 23-year-old man who lost his life on Main Street on Wednesday when a tree came crashing down on him in his car.
Sergey, the oldest of the family’s nine children, was a person you could always have some fun with, his 20-year-old sister Irina said. The always-laughing Sergey was kind and helpful and had recently turned “softer, more caring,” his sister said. The tall young man with close-cropped dark hair and the hint of a mustache did not have a girlfriend, but had many friends, she said.
Sergey came to this country 16 years ago from Kyrgyzstan with his family, whose ethnicity is Russian. He attended West Springfield High School, but dropped out his junior year.
“He decided he would rather just go to work,” Irina said.
Vladimir Livchin stands at the roadside memorial to his son, Sergey, who was killed in the June 1 tornado at Main and Hill streets.Until about a month or two ago, Sergey worked as an adjuster fixing machinery at National Envelope Corp. in Westfield, where his father, Vladimir, is also an adjuster.
Recently, Sergey had expressed interest in getting his GED and maybe going to college or getting training in repairing heating and air conditioning systems.
“He was interested in many things. He was good at many things ... cars ... always fixing things,” Irina said.
The family did not know why Sergey was on Main Street when he died, but believes he was heading home from the direction in which his car was pointed. Sergey, who was alone, was pronounced dead at the scene.
The reality of Sergey’s death did not sink in for family members until they saw his destroyed car, Irina said.
This past weekend, the family was to have gone jet skiing. “We had a lot of plans for the summer,” Irina said.
The loss has been toughest on her mother.
“It is still very unbelievable that he is gone,” Yelena Livchina said in Russian with Irina translating into English. “When I go to his room I start crying. It feels like he is going to walk through the door and come home. ... My relationship with God is helping me through this.”