By 1925, it had become clear to the Mennonite Board of Colonization and to others like Dr. Drury, that the window of time was quickly closing on Mennonites hoping to emmigrate. Dr. Drury made one last trip, from Ukraine in the west, through Orenburg and as far as the Barnaul settlement in Western Siberia. It was on this trip that both my paternal and maternal grandparents secured a personal “certificate of approval” from Dr. Drury, thus opening the way for both families to be part of the last groups to leave the Soviet Union.