Tamara Buzyna Adams

A Lifelong Passion Turned First-Time Author
Tamara Buzyna Adams is a first-time author, showcasing her meticulous research skills and her ardent passion for genealogy. Deeply immersed in her own family’s history project alongside her mother, Helen, she brings over 25 years of experience in uncovering and preserving ancestral stories from her Russian, Ukrainian, and Finnish heritage. Using her parents’ adventurous spirit, she vivaciously seeks out any experience, especially travel, that brings her closer to understanding not only her own heritage but of those surrounding her. 

Determined Roots: A Granddaughter’s Mission Comes to Life
Tamara’s indomitable spirit, undoubtedly inherited from her ancestors, enabled her to pursue her ambitious ideas of researching her grandmother’s diaries and searching for descendants, and she was successful. 

From Diaries to Times Square
After five years of researching her grandmother’s diaries, her work reached a remarkable milestone in November 2024, when her book cover was displayed in New York City’s Times Square. The next day, she presented a six-hour seminar on her findings to the spellbound descendants of those who had been on the ship with her grandmother. Her dedication comes full circle with the publication of her first narrative book, Last Ship to Freedom, in fall 2025.

A Scientific Mind Behind the Stories
In addition to her extensive genealogy research experience, Tamara holds a bachelor’s degree in biology from Elmhurst College (now Elmhurst University), and a bachelor’s degree in occupational therapy from Florida A&M University. Her background in science and research is evident in her attention to detail when uncovering family histories and piecing together her past.

Balancing Motherhood, Medicine, and Memory
Tamara lives in Alpharetta, GA with her husband and 2 children. Before pursuing genealogy, as a pediatric Occupational Therapist, she specialized in improving fine motor skills, enhancing upper body strength, and supporting functional daily activities to promote independence and well-being. She later embraced the role of a stay-at-home mom. While raising her children, she actively volunteered in their schools. 

Creative at Heart - with a Love for Snow and Prehistoric Bones
Her hobbies span a wide range of creative and adventurous pursuits, including photography, graphic design, scrapbooking, card making, travel, and anything related to snow. In her free time, she enjoys diving into genealogy websites to research her friends’ family histories. Fun fact: She has always been fascinated by dinosaurs since childhood and dreams of joining a dinosaur dig one day! Perhaps a different kind of genealogy, tracing the lineage of prehistoric giants!


What inspired you to turn your grandmother Lydia’s diaries into a full-length book, and what was the most surprising discovery you made along the way?
I originally planned to simply translate my grandmother’s diaries to preserve them as part of our family archive, never imagining anyone outside the family would care. But as I shared her story, people were captivated. The more I realized how unique and relevant Lydia’s journey was, I knew her story had to be told. Through the process of researching and writing, I not only brought her experiences to life but, to my surprise, discovered how deeply alike we are! I feel like I know her better now than I did when she was alive!

Lydia’s story is both deeply personal and historically significant. How did you balance emotional truth with historical accuracy in your writing?
I fact-checked everything I possibly could from her diaries, (names, dates, and events), against historical records, but I never wanted to lose her voice in the process. Balancing accuracy with emotion meant honoring the facts and how she actually felt about them. Last Ship to Freedom captures, through a child’s eyes, how exile, uncertainty and hope were experienced in real time. 

The image of the steamship Kherson adrift in the Black Sea is so powerful. What does that ship symbolize to you and your family today?
To me, the Kherson represents both survival and transformation, a grand, uncertain adventure that carried my family across seas, into a new life. For our family, it’s a symbol of courage, resilience, and hope, reminding us that even in the most uncertain moments, choosing bravery over fear can change everything. The Kherson was their last chance at freedom and they bravely took it.

As a genealogical expert, how did your professional background influence the way you approached telling this story?
I approached this genealogy project like it was a puzzle waiting to be solved. My science background made me crave evidence. So I verified every name, date, and event through records, archives and personal memorabilia. That genealogical mindset helped me not just confirm Lydia’s story, but expand on it, adding depth, context, and connections that made her experiences come alive.

The book explores themes of exile, resilience, and identity. How did Lydia’s experiences shape the generations that followed, including your own?
One of the most powerful threads in Lydia’s diary is how her family held onto their identity through tradition, even in the midst of exile. They celebrated holidays, cooked familiar foods, and kept their faith. As I read her diaries and told her story, I realized that many of those same customs in my own childhood traced back to her family. Her focus on gratitude, appreciation of small joys, and perseverance, even amid loss, shaped the generations that followed. Her resilience didn’t end with her, it lives on in us.

There are haunting, poetic moments in the book—like the abandoned horses in the sea. How did you navigate capturing these scenes through a child’s eyes while honoring their emotional weight?
Lydia never wrote about the abandoned horses in her diary, she only began journaling a few weeks later. However, she spoke of it years afterward with quiet stoicism, proof of how deeply it affected her. I chose to honor that moment through recollections of others who witnessed it, including her friend Zhenia’s niece, and a poem from a fellow evacuee. Letting their voices convey the scene’s emotion felt like the most truthful and respectful way to capture its haunting story.

What parallels do you see between Lydia’s refugee journey a century ago and the experiences of displaced people today?
The parallels are strikingly similar. Families still flee war and uncertainty, and children remain caught in the crossfire of history. The loss of stability and the uncertain future Lydia endured echo in today’s refugee crisis, reminding us that behind every statistic is a human story. Her journey helped me better understand how history shapes who we are and why we search for home, both physically and emotionally.

What challenges did Lydia and her family face aboard the Kherson that particularly struck you as relevant during the COVID-19 pandemic?
A century before the COVID-19 pandemic, Lydia lived through the typhus epidemic aboard the Kherson, an overcrowded, quarantined ship where fear, isolation, and uncertainty felt hauntingly familiar. Like families in lockdown, they faced strict limits, scarce supplies, and no clear end in sight, yet they endured. That parallel reminded me that while diseases change, the human experience of fear and isolation remains the same, offering perspective during the darkest days of the pandemic.
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 If Lydia could see the impact her story is having today, what do you think she would want readers to take away from it?
I believe Lydia would want readers to understand the quiet power of writing things down, even when life feels ordinary or uncertain. She might have said, “that’s just the way it was,” never realizing how extraordinary her story truly is. I believe she’d be proud to know her words now help others connect with history in a personal way. Through Last Ship to Freedom, her strength reminds us that perseverance and rediscovery often come from hardship, and that even in the most uncertain times, we can rise, rebuild, and find out who we truly are.

Writing Last Ship to Freedom was clearly a labor of love. How has sharing Lydia’s story changed you and your connection to your family's history?
Sharing Lydia’s story transformed how I understand my family’s history. It turned names on a tree into real, interconnected lives. One of the most rewarding discoveries was finding the descendants of my grandmother’s best friend from the ship. Their families were like family aboard the Kherson, and now, a century later, we’ve become family again. Through this project, I gained a deeper empathy for those uprooted by history and a profound sense that Lydia’s story continues to bridge generations, reminding us how the past still shapes who we are today.

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Website: https://www.tamarabuzynaadams.com/​
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Purchase the book here:
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0FRKZK3TF