|
My father John (Ioannis) immigrated to the USA from the island of Kos (then Turkey, now Greece) in 1907. His brother Jim (Dimitrios)came in 1906, leaving behind borhters Hippocrates and Eurapides and sisters, Antigone, Dionisia, Maria. and Julia.
Their father, Alexios was born in 1850, went to the U. of Athens in 1870 to study medicine, and then switched over to the school of Philologia (Humanities & Literature). After completeing his education he left to teach in the Greek school system in Alexandria, Egypt. He returned about 1880 to develop the educational system in Kos. He was held in high esteem for his dedication and teaching abilities as well as for his humanitarianism. After he died in 1928, he was mourned, and when the Italians rebuilt the town of Kos after the great earthquake of 1933, they named a street after him just one block from the square (agora). Brother Hippocrates became a physician, but died during the Balkan wars (1912) from peritonitis after a ruptured acute appendicitis. Sister Julia died at childbirth in 1923. Brother Euripedes and sister Dionisia (Stamatiadis) were killed in the earthquake. Sister Maria (Architas) died of starvation during the war (1942), and sister Antigone (Porforiou) at age >90 and died in 1980's.
|
