House of Tumosai

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During the interwar period, as the forestry office actively developed its activities, people related to forests and the forest industry moved to Kazlų Rūda from various regions of Lithuania. The same thing happened with the Tumosai family. Forester Martynas Tumosas came here from Seinai district, Petroškės village of Veisiejai County and started building a family and had to start that from scratch. But the settlers were apparently smart. They started building the huse according to the project of a German architect and completed it in 1933. Martynas Tumosas worked in the Jūrės Forestry Agency in Runkiai Forestry from 1929 to1939; from 1944 to 1945, he was a head of the Jūrės Forestry Agency and from 1945 to 1947 – the head of Kazlų Rūda forestry industry. Obviously, this timeline has gaps of few years because during the German occupation, the Tumosai family moved to the Vilnius district, leaving their house (according to witnesses) to a German officer.

Later, the Tumosai returned to Kazlų Rūda. Marijona Tumosienė was housewife and a woman of extraordinary beauty and elegance, according to the memories of people who had met her. Everyone recognized her from afar on the street because of her stylish clothes and proud posture. Relatives who inherited the property of the Tumosai believe, based on the items they found, that maybe Tumosienė had a beauty salon at home. It is also known that the Tumosai had a large plot of land near their house with an exceptional garden, which the old Tumosas especially nurtured. It contained imported fruit trees – apricots, peaches, excellent varieties of pears and apples.

Two sons, Liūdas and Algimantas, grew up in the family. Liūdas’ fate is tragic – he went out to join the partisans and died soon after. Algimantas graduated from forestry school, got married and had a son. His wife Birutė Stašionytė-Tumosienė, who was from Jonava, worked at the school. After the divorce, Algimantas did not stay in Kazlų Rūda for long, he went to Klaipėda and became a sailor. In 1974, after the death of old Martynas Tumosas, the son sold part of the house. Taking care of the future of her grandson and daughter-in-law, Marijona Tumosienė divided the remaining property: she gave half of it to Algimantas, the other half – to his abandoned family.

In 1989, the Marijona was burried next to her husband in the old cemetery of Kazlų Rūda, and three decades later, Algimantas Tumosas also joined his parents.

During the long years of existence of the house, many different people have lived here. Currently, the house is owned by two families. Most of it belongs to the descendants of Tumosai.