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THE TEXIANS AND THE TEXANS
THE
GREEK
TEXANS
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AT SAN ANTONIO
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
THE TEXIANS AND TEXANS
A pamphlet series dealing with the many kinds of people who have
contributed to the history and heritage of Texas. Now in print:
The Indian Texans, The German Texans, The Norwegian Texans,
The Mexican Texans (in English), Los Mexicano Texanos ( in
Spanish), The Spanish Texans, The Polish Texans, The Czech
Texans, The French Texans, The Italian Texans, The Greek Tex­ans,
The Jewish Texans, The Syrian and Lebanese Texans, The
Afro-American Texans, The Anglo-American Texans, and The
Belgian Texans.
The Greek Texans
Principal Reseacher: James Patrick McGuire
13 -331
Second Printing
© 19 74: The Institute of Texan Cultures
COl'er illustrations: Angelo Caravageli. Courtesy of the Caravageli Family
~g ""'2,.13 7rhe Elias Varessis Store. Courtesy of the Varessis Family
The Wedding of Paul and Ethel PaLl/ides at Houston.
Courtesy of Mrs. Paul Carson ~ 0 _ )., 1 ~6
This publication was made possible, in part, by a grant from the
HOUSTON ENDOWMENT, INC.
IMMIGRANTS EMBARKING AT PATROS
INTRODUCTION
From a few fishermen, sailors, and adven­turers
during the latter nineteenth cen­tury,
Texas's flourishing Greek communi­ties
grew. The 1860 census showed only
two Greeks in the state. A century later,
there were an estimated ten thousand,
mainly in Houston, Fort Worth, Dallas,
and San Antonio. The major immigration
to T exas came in the three decades fol ­lowing
1890, as it did to the rest of the
United States. By 1910, it was estimated
that one tenth of Greece's population had
already come to America. A failure of
cash crops during the 1890's, economic
depression, overpopulation, unstable gov­ernment,
wars, and social pressures of the
dowry system were some of the reasons.
The Greeks of Asia Minor left their
homes in the face of political, social, and
economic discrimination. By 1922, large
colonies in Turkey were expelled as a re­sult
of war. and many of these people
sought new homes in America.
Possessors of a proud and ancient heri­tage
of civilization, religion, and culture,
Fairchild, Greek Immigration to the United States
Texas's Greek immigrants congregated in
cities where they could begin climbing
the economic ladder-from dishwasher
and flower seller to restaurateur and real
estate investor. Frequently, they began
working in cafes because a compatriot al­ready
established in that business would
offer them a joh. This employment usu­ally
lasted until they had learned Eng­lish
and had acquired enough capital
to open their own businesses-other cafes.
The young men came first, then returned
home to marry or to bring back their
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MAP OF GREECE ITC Collection
f77 ':1·3'1'1 h f' . 1 aml les. But t e lrst generatlOn near y
always maintained strong ties with the
old country. Further stability came with
the establishment of Greek Orthodox
churches. Texas's Greeks were both indi­vidualistic
and hard-working. Their con~
tribution is summarized in the following
stories of pioneers and their institutions
in a new homeland.
2
CAPTAI N N IC H OLAS
1817
The first identifiable Greek to arrive m
Texas came with the pirate, Jean Laffite.
In 1881, an old buccaneer, known only as
Captain Nicholas, told his strange story to
Dr. J . O. Dyer. At 17, he had joined Laf­fite
at Savannah, Georgia, then came to
Galveston Island aboard the Jupiter . Soon
he was placed in charge of a trading
schooner, the Arabella, on which he
continued to serve until the pirate col­ony
broke up in 1820. From remnants
of the Karankawa tribe, Captain Nicholas
bought himself a bride for ten pounds of
sugar and some rum. The girl, Orta, was
left behind with the other women and
children when their pirate husbands left
Galveston. Most of those who stayed be­hind
perished in the storm of 1823. Nich­olas
could not find his wife and child
when he returned in later y ears. Later he
was with Laffite in Yucatan and Sisal,
where the chieftain reportedly died in
GALVESTON HARBOR, 1838 7/- '-131-
1826. After surviving an attack of yellow
fever, Nicholas returned to Galveston Is­land
in 1842 aboard a Texas Navy vessel.
During the n ext half century he be­came
a familiar figure in Galveston, sell­ing
fish and oysters and hauling charcoal
from the mainland. Captain Nicholas re­tired
in 1890. Five years later he was liv­ing
on his farm n ear Turtle Bayou. A few
days before his one hundredth birthday
in 1900, the seemingly indestructible old
seaman was lost in the disastrous Galves­ton
storm.
Rosenberg Library
EARLY SAN ANTONIO
MERCHANTS
1835
Among T exas 's early colonists were two
Greek brothers, Pedro and George Sera­les,
who settled in the Power and Hewet­son
Colony in what is now Goliad County.
There they were given one and one-half
leagues of land in October, 1834. Both
vvere reported living at Refugio the fol­lovving
veal'. The 1840 Republic of Texas
Census io entified Pedro as a dry goods
merchant living in San Antonio with his
\\"ife and two chiloren. He also owned a
town lot in Victoria County, hut nothing
more is known nf him or his brother.
Peoro Serates may have heen preceded
in San Antonin hy another Greek shop­keeper.
Roque Catahu, who rented quar­ters
from the de la Zerda family. Catahu
hao a prettv, young wife whom he show­ered
with jewelry and fine clothes. He
also gave h er a dilapidated piano to keep
her at home. There she amused herself
and attracted crowds who gathered in the
late afternoon to hear her music.
COLONEL FRANCISCO
GARAY
1836
Those Texans who survived the Goliad
massacre later recalled the kindness of
Colonel Francisco Garay, a Greek serving
in the Mexican Army. He saved about a
dozen doctors and carpenters by hiding
them in his t ent on the morning of the
slaughter ordered by Santa Anna on
Palm Sunday, 1836. After the executions,
Garay returned to his quarters. His usual
" SAN ANTONIO DE BEXAH," BY HEHM.'\NN LUNGKWITZ 73 - 73 Courtesy of Mrs. William Ochse
charm had given way ~o extreme an­guish.
He advised the captives, "Keep
still, gentlemen, you are safe; these arc
not my orders, nor do I execute them."
Mexican military records indicate that
Colonel Garay was born of Greek parent­age
at Jalapa ahout 1796. As a young
man, Garay's advocacy of Mexican inde­pendence
from Spain resulted in his exile,
but he returned in 1825 and entered the
foreign service. President Guadalupe Vic·
toria of the new Mexican Republic
named him consul at Gibraltar, after
which he served for a time at the em­bassy
in London.
On his return to Mexico in 1829, Garay
joined the army. In 1835, he was sent to
Matamoros to serve as adjutant to Gen­eral
Urrea during the Texas campaign of
1836. Later, he survived an inquiry at
Mexico City into the cause of the Mexi­can
defeat and was promoted to general
in 1841. A half-dozen years later he
fought the American invasion at the Ca­labazo
River. His military career ended in
1859, when he was named Mexican Con­sul
at New York City. Garay died at New
Orleans in 1865.
3
4
GREEK GEORGE Lummis, Mesa, Canon, and Pueblo
7,-{p"!J1
GREEK GEORGE
1857
Eighteen-year-old George Xaralampa was
working for his relative, Domingo Mimi­co
of Smyrna, in 1856. A year later, the
two were in Texas with a few other
Greeks, Arabs, and Turks as camel tend­ers
for the United States Army's novel ex­periment
in transportation. On landing at
Indianola, the men took their herd to
Camp Verde, the eastern anchor of the
trail which extended all the way to San
Diego.
At least seven of the herdsmen were
Greek: George and Mimico (called Mico
in Texas ) , Michelo Giorgios, Yanni Illia­to,
Giorgios Costi, Hagiatis Yannaco, and
Anastasio Coralli. The last two were nick­named
Long Tom and Short Tom. All of
these men r eceived rations and lodging
plus a small monthly allowance.
In 1857, Greek George accompanied a
camel caravan under Edward F. Beale to
survey a wagon road along the thirty­fifth
parallel from Fort Defiance, New
Mexico, to the Colorado River. He fought
beside the troopers in several engage­ments
with the Indians and swam the
freezing Colorado on the largest of the
camels. George remained in the west un­til
his death near Whittier, California,
in 1913. He had changed his name to
George Allen, and paradoxically, he
spoke only Spanish. He had long since
forgotten his native tongue. His friend,
Charles F. Lummis, said that he looked
the part of a sturd.¥ Greek patriarch,
"with a Homeric beard and a thatch of
hair, both so dense as to seem almost
bullet proof." His modest, well-mannered
bearing won him many friends.
After the Civil War, the government
sold the camels at Camp Verde-five of
them to the Ringling Brothers Circus,
where Long Tom found new employ­ment.
Mico stayed at Camp Verde, eking
out a living by selling camel rides. Later
he served time for his involvement in a
killing. After receiving a gubernatorial
pardon, he returned to Camp Verde, built
a home nearby, and died there as a re­spected
old man.
THE G R E E K O .R THO D 0 X
CHURCH IN TEXAS
Eastern Orthodoxy, the third largest body
of Christianity in the world, was brought
to Texas in the late nineteenth century by
immigrants who wished to preserve their
traditional form of religious worship.
Strong family ties and a devotion to
Orthodoxy have been the principal means
by which Greek ethnic consciousness has
been preserved through the third and
fourth generations.
When enough Greek families had
moved into any particular locale, the
general procedure was to charter a for­mal
organization. The church which usu­ally
followed differed from old country
churches in one significant respect: lay­men
controlled all non-religious func­tions
of the community and church. This
democratic character required some get­ting-
used-to by the early pastors, most of
whom were from Greece and Asia Minor.
Today, most of the priests are American­born,
but their ritual is still conducted in
the traditional liturgical Greek that many
of the younger generation do not under­stand.
The first Greek Orthodox Churches in
Texas were rented halls, or perhaps small,
second-hand frame buildings left behind
by other denominations and renovated by
the Greeks. Later generations often built
imposing structures, richly decorated
with icons, to provide a maj estic backdrop
for the ancient and colorful rites which
derive from the gospels, the ancient
church fathers, and a thousand years of
Byzantine tradition. Today there are elev­en
Greek Orthodox Churches in Texas.
GALVESTON­TEXAS'S
FIRST
GREEK COMMUNITY
1865
After the Civil War, Texas's largest city
and most important seaport, Galveston,
'attracted Greek fishermen, sailors, and
merchants. The 1860 Census reported two
Greeks living in Texas. Twenty years lat­er,
the figure had risen to thirty-seven.
Still concentrated at Galveston, they be­gan
venturing into such fields as saloon
keeping, grocery marketing, and cotton
ginning. With Orthodox Christians of
other nationalities, the Greeks were hold­ing
religious services in private homes
and halls. In 1895, they joined with Ser­bians
and a few Russians and Syrians to
build a sanctuary-the SS. Constantine
and Helen Orthodox Church. Finished the
next year, this tiny structure was conse­crated
by Bishop Nicholas of the Russian
Orthodox Church in San Francisco. The
first priest was Greek-born Theoclitos Tri­antafilides,
who held services in Greek,
Russian, and Serbian!
Four years later, the little church was
c::ompletely destroyed by the 1900 hurri­cane,
but the parishioners soon rebuilt.
The church, as early as 1904, had the first
Orthodox cemetery in Texas. Father The­oclitos
was succeeded in 1916 by Father
Michael Andriatis, the only other native
Greek priest to serve that church. In 1931,
Greek members of the congregation with­drew
to form a purely Greek Orthodox
Church in Galveston. These worshippers
began holding services in a small frame
Lutheran building which had been erect­ed
in 1888. This building served until a
new Byzantine-s~yle structure was com­pleted
in 1964.
The first priest of the Assumption
Greek Orthodox Church was the Rev. D.
THE FUNERAL OF FATHER THEO~'lo~ /117
Zikakis. The church sponsored the usual
range of activities-a school and social
and fraternal organizations. A new com­munity
hall was built in 1955 with An­gelo
Caravageli leading the effort. The
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SS. Constantine &: Helen Orthodox Church, Galveston
new church was opened in 1964 by Bish­op
Silas of New Orleans and was conse­crated
seven years later by Bishop John of
Thermon. Today there are about eighty
families in that parish.
t
5
tpg-271-Y
THE REV. THEOCLlTOS TRIANTAFILIDES ss. Constantine &: Helen Orthodox Church, Galveston
6
THE REV. THEOCLITOS
TRIANTAFILIDES
1896
Texas's first Greek Orthodox priest was
the Very Rev. Theoclitos Triantafilides.
He served Texas's first Orthodox church
-Galveston's SS. Constantine and Helen
parish-for twenty-one years, refusing to
leave when higher positions were offered
him. He remained by his Greek and Ser­bian
congregation during the 1900 hurri­cane,
buried the dead, and helped rebuild
the shattered church, not once, but twice
thereafter-in 1909 and again in 1915.
Father Theoclitos was born in 1833 to a
farm family living near Athens, Greece.
He received his theological training in
Russia and was ordained in 1872. He
served on the faculty of several semi­paries
in his adopted land and was twice
decorated by Czar Nicholas II for his con­tributions.
Father Theoclitos came to Gal­veston
in March, 1896. With financial
support from the Russian Missionary
Church in North America, he spent much
time in evangelical work in the south­western
states. At the time of his death at
Galveston in 1916, the eighty-three-year­old
priest was an archimandrite-a priest
of the highest order. He was buried by his
friends beneath the altar of the small
frame church that he had served so long.
THE COKINOS FAMILY
OF BEAUMONT
1902
Peter Cokinos knew only a few words of
English when he arrived to work in the
Spindletop oil field in 1902. He had
1
PETER COKINOS AND SONS
worked his way to Galveston the year be­fore
as a fireman on a German ship. He
remained at Spindletop for nine years,
then opened a grill and oyster bar. H e
made enough money to return to Greece
and get married. Back in Beaumont, he
opened a grocery store and latcr worked
at a bakery . Cokinos insisted that his chil­dren
receive a higher education, in spite
of poverty and great odds. His four sons­Genios,
Jimmie, Mike, and Andrew­were
graduated from Texas A&M Uni­versity,
while his daughter. Helen, was
graduated from Lamar Tech.
Courtesy of the Cokinos Family
During World War II," Jimmie Cokinos
won the Bronze Star for valor in the Phil­ippines,
while his brother, Mike, earned a
Silver Star in Germany. After the war,
both men entered the insurance, real es­tate,
and construction businesses in Beau­mont.
Both became colon els in the Army
Reserve; and Mike a brigadier gen eral, as
deputy commander of the 90th Army Re­serve
Command. Jimmie served on the
Beaumont City Council for ten years be­fore
being elected mayor in 1956. His
four-year term marked the first instance
in which a Greek Texan served as mayor
of a major Texas city. He is a past presi­dent
of the Texas Municipal League.
Genios Cokinos became a petroleum ge­ologist,
with oil and gas interests in Lou­isiana
and Texas. His career began at
seventeen as a roustabout in the Spindle­top
oil field. After completing college, he
was employed with the Oil and Gas Divi­sion
of the Texas Railroad Commission.
He has written numerous technical arti­cles
for national oil journals and has lec­tured
widely to schools and civic clubs.
Today, he is a noted Beaumont commu­nity
leader. Andrew, the youngest broth­er,
is Chief Probation and Parole Officer
for the Eastern District of Texas. When
Peter Cokinos died in 1945, his ambitions
for his children were well on the way to
fulfillment.
MIKE MITCHELL
AND SONS
1905
Mike Mitchell (Savva Paraskivopoulis)
was a twenty-year-old sh eep and goat
h erder when he had the impulse to mi­grate
from his native Greece in 1903. On
arriving in America, he spent two years
working on western railroads for thirty­seven
cents a day. He took the name
Mitchell from a gang boss who threat­ened
to fire him because of his lengthy
surname. In 1905, he open ed a shoeshine
parlor in Galveston and later a cleaning
and pressing business. From his earnings,
he was able to provide each of his sons a
college education. Mitchell's greatest suc­cess
came, however, from his investment
in Galveston real estate.
7
8
MIKE MITCHELL AND CHILDREN
Two years before his death in 1970,
Mike's two sons, George and Johnny,
gave land on Pelican Island to Texas
A&M University as a tribute to their fa­ther.
The site is now the Mitchell Campus
of Texas Maritime Academy. Ironically,
these college grounds are nam\d for a
man who never went to school a day in
his life. The campus houses a marine sci­ence
and oceanographic center and is
home port for the Alaminos, a research
vessel.
Both George and Johnny Mitchell are
Texas A&M graduates in petroleum en­gineering.
Both served with distinction
in World War II. After the war, they
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formed a Houston-based partnership and
drilled their first well at High Island in
1945. One of their greatest successes was
development, in 1952, of the Boonsville
Gas Field, which supplies Chicago with
about twenty percent of its natural gas.
The brothers have drilled over 2,000
wells for oil and gas since World War II
and have discovered seventy-five oil fields
and thirty-six gas fields. Both men have
served as president of the Texas Inde­pendent
Producers and Royalty Owners
Association.
In the 1960's, they began large-scale
land development for subdivisions and
industrial sites. A Montgomery Countv
location is being designed for a potential
population of 150,000 and will have
49,000 homes, nine shopping centers, and
a satellite campus for the University of
Houston. The brothers also have exten­sive
residential tracts on Galveston Is­land,
plus industrial sites on Pelican
Island.
Christie, youngest of the Mitchell
brothers, is a columnist for the Galveston
Daily News. Known as "Galveston's
beachcomber," he also operates a beach­front
club and bath house, He is widely
appreciated for his unaffected good hu­mor
and rampant individuality.
THE POLEMANAKOS
BROTHERS OF HOUSTON
1906
The odyssey of the seven Polemanakos
brothers from their native Greece to
Houston began during the last decade of
the nineteenth century. The older broth­ers-
Peter, George, Edward, Anthony,
and John-settled first at Birmingham,
Alabama, before coming to Houston,
where they were joined by Theo in 1900
and Nick in 1909.
They worked briefly in the refinery at
nearby Sugar Land. Here they were la­boring
twenty-hour days, learning the
English language, and laying the foun­dation
for a fortune. Soon they came to
Houston, peddling fmit and candy on the
streets, By 1906, they had saved enough
to open a confectionary at the corner of
Main and Houston. Later a bakery was
added. Realizing the potential of the
movie industry, they became owners and
operators of several silent-film houses.
However, real estate was their prime con­cern.
Following the muddy trails away
from downtown Houston, they bought
land on the outskirts and awaited the
growth of Texas's largest city.
The brothers, always noted for their
charities, helped build the first Greek Or­thodox
church in Houston. Their good
works are assured of continuation through
the foundation which bears their name.
This organization was created in 1964 for
promoting medical, educationaL and reli­gious
endeavors. The foundation gave a
one-million-dollar endowment to the
Greek Orthodox Seminary and Hellenic
College at Brookline,' Massachusetts,
THEO AND NICK POLEMANAJO~ - 2 S-'j
Annunciation Orthodox Cathedral, Houston
THE ZENOS CONFECTIONARY 73-r3d
where Polemanakos Hall commemorates
their gift. The foundation was also a ma­jor
contributor to the Polemanakos Edu­cational
Building at the Greek Orthodox
cathedral in Houston. In 1971, gifts were
made to St. Luke's Episcopal Hospital and
to the Houston Ortho40x parish for a
community center. Today Theo and Nick
are the last surviving brothers.
ROSE ZENOS
1909
There are people in Port Arthur, Texas,
who still rememher the confectionary
that was operated for nearly thirty years
by Rose Zenos, a Greek from the island
of Timinos. Zenos's name, at birth, was
Garifolos Zenias. After working in Al­exandria,
Egypt, he came to America,
where the name was changed. Garifolos,
in his native language, meant pink carna-
Courtesy of K. R. Z enos, Sr.
tion. He acquired the name Rose through
a mistranslation. The last name- after
many misspellings, including Xmas-be­came
Zenos.
By 1909, Rose was working itn his
brother's sweet shop in the oil boom town
of Sour Lake, Texas. The following year,
they moved to Port Arthur, where they
sold ice cream and home-made candy.
The store was enlA.rged in 1915, and
again in 1920. It had a charming, old­fashioned
atmosphere, accented with a
twenty-four-foot onyx soda fountain, 120
feet of mirrors around the walls, iron­legged
tables, and low-hanging ceiling
fans. Zenos closed the shop in 1939 and
devoted most of his remaining years to
fishing. He sold the old fixtures in his es­tablishment
four years before his death
in 1970.
9
10
THE FORT WORTH
GREEKS
1910
The first Greek came to the booming cow­town
of Fort Worth in 1890; the second
nine years later. By 1900, a small but
steady stream of these people began arriv­ing
to work in packing plants, restau­rants,
cleaning establishments, confec­tionaries,
and shoeshine parlors. Many
were from the politically unstable re­gions
of Alatsata and Smyrna. Typical of
these early immigrants were George
Fenichis, rancher and restaurateur, and
Demosthenes G. Harris, who began his
climb to leadership in the packing indus­try
in a Fort Worth plant. Many had an
agricultural background in the old coun­try.
When they had saved enough money
from their initial jobs to do so, they
bought truck farms along the Trinity
River west of town.
By 1910, there were enough men and
women to organize the first "all-Greek"
Orthodox church in Texas. St. Demetrios
was founded by the Rev. Athan Angelop­ulos
from New Orleans. The congregation
was almost entirely male. The first serv­ices
were held in 1911 in rented quarters
at First and Houston Streets. About half
the young men served as chanters at that
first meeting. Father Athan advised them
that, by saving three cents per day, they
could build their own sanctuary. The
women sold Greek pastries, held nlm­mage
sales, and conducted a fall festival
to raise money. The first St. Demetrios
building was finished in 1917 and was
replaced by a second, larger structure in
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THE WEDDING OF GUS AND ANGELA SPARTO 7 :3 - LJ , J .~.- ~""-.!. ..... ;:
1939. From this congregation came the
first Texas-born Greek to be ordained into
the Orthodox pr~esthood, the Very Rev.
Fotios Pentikis.
There were other signs of progress in
the Greek community. A farmer named
Jim George came to Texas in 1913 and
attempted to establish commercial vine­yards.
When a commercial market did not
immediately materialize, he continued
growing grapes for family and friends.
The first Greek wedding in the commu­nity,
that of Gus and Angela Sparto, was
held in 1914. It was an outdoor ceremony,
with a day-long festival following. That
same year marked the peak of Greek im­migration
to Fort Worth. The tide sub-
Courtesy of the Spar to Family
sided a little by 1916. Many left for other
locations in the United States or returned
to the homeland. In 1923, the remaining
immigrants formed the nucleus of the
first Texas chapter of the American Hel­lenic
Educational Progressive Association
(AHEP A), a national service organiza­tion.
Eventually, there was a resurgence
in the local Greek population, which
reached 1,400 by 1940. Seventy-five per­cent
of those were farmers. A minority
were small businessmen. Although these
people were widely scattered and identi­fiable
neighborhoods no longer existed,
the Greek language, customs, and Ortho­dox
religion have been surprisingly well
maintained.
FAITHON P. LUCAS
f9 11
Know locally as "Papa Lucas," Faithon P.
Lucas was a leading Dallas restaurateur,
philanthropist, and conservationist. Born
in Smyrna, he came to America in 1906
by shoveling coal on a ship. When it
docked at New York City, he jumped off
with seventy-five cents in his pocket and
landed a dishwashing job. Two years lat­er,
he brought over his young wife. To­gether,
they worked in restaurants in Vir­ginia,
West Virginia, and South Carolina.
Finally, they came to Dallas about 1910,
where Papa Lucas was a cook at the Har­vey
House in the old Santa Fe depot.
In 1911, Lucas bought an interest in the
B & B Cafe in the downtown Imperial Ho­tel.
Eventually, he bought out his part-
MR. AND MRS. FAITHON LUCAS ~g..-Z 73"
ners and moved the cafe to Oak Lawn.
During this time, the Ku Klux Klan
was reaching its peak. When called a
"damn foreigner," Lucas calmly replied:
" Friend, I am ashamed that I was not
born here, but I came as quickly as I
could. And I have done my best to be
worthy of America. But I am just as
ashamed as your grandfather was when
he arrived." Twice a year, this Greek im­migrant
gave the daily proceeds of his
business to worthy causes-first to the
Scottish Rite Hospital for Crippled Chil­dren,
then to the Dallas Community
Chest and Red Cross.
Lucas also achieved wide fame as a con­servationist.
In 1928, he bought 1,300
acres of eroded yellow clay land hear
Mesquite for $27.50 per acre. Moved by
Courtesy of Mrs. Virginia Nick
memories of his native country, where
land was most precious, he pioneered ter­racing,
fertilizing, and other advanced
land-management practices on his Texas
property. Soon he had a showplace stocked
with fine cattle, hogs, poultry, and a va­riety
of truck crops, most of which were
supplied to his restaurant. He built his
own packing and processing facilities on
the farm. Lucas died in 1956, leaving
seven children to carryon his tradition of
progress and service.
TOM D. ANTHONY
1912
Tom D. Anthony (Athanasios Antonop­oulos)
was a founder of San Antonio's
Greek community, the St. Sophia Ortho­dox
Church, the local AHEPA chapter,
and one of the city's leading restaurants.
His Manhattan Cafe on Houston Street is
still heavily patronized, although its
management has now passed into the
hands of his son, Daniel.
Nineteen-year-old Tom Anthony, a na­tive
of Messenia, came to America in
1903. He gave up factory work in Chicago
to open a fruit stand in Atlanta. In 1907,
he joined guerrilla fighters in Macedonia
during the disturbances which wracked
his native land. Back in the United States
five years later, he worked in Dallas be­fore
settling permanently in San Antonio.
With his partners, John Anthony, Athan
Prattes, and later Tom Poulos, he opened
the Manhattan, one of the first air-condi­tioned
restaurants in San Antonio. Tom
Anthony's brother, John, is also promi­nent
in civic affairs.
II
12
GEORGE PETHERIOTES
AND ANGELO MYTELEN
1913
The brothers-in-law Petheriotes and My­telen
were leaders of Houston's Greek
commlmity and founders of its Orthodox
church. Petheriotes was born at Tripolis
in 1883. He was a sheepherder and later
a grocery worker before coming to Ameri­ca
in 1901. On his arrival, he waited ta­bles
in Boston and peddled fruit at the St.
Louis World's Fair in 1904. Thereafter,
he worked for the Burlington Railroad,
sold sauerkraut on Canal Street in New
Orleans, and managed cafes in Mobile,
Hattiesburg, and Gulfport, before coming
to Houston in 1911. He operated dining
establishments on Fannin, Main, and
Prairie Streets and finally opened the
well-known Elite Cafe, which he owned
from 1913 until 1934. Fifteen years later,
he entered the wholesale coffee business
with two of his sons, Angelo and James.
George Petheriotes was long active in
AHEPA and was sent to the 1934 national
convention as Houston's delegate. His son,
J ames, continued his father's interest in
the organization and served on the Su­preme
Board of Trustees in 1971-72.
George's wife was Anastasia Mytelen,
who had come to Houston in 1914 with
her sisters, Constantine, Sophia, and Aph­rodite,
to join their brother, Angelo, who
had arrived seven years earlier. Angelo
also had entered the restaurant business,
owning first the Blue Front and then the
Palace on Milam Street. He later became
a sllccessful real estate investor and as­sisted
his nephews in establishing their
coffee enterprise. Angelo, too, was deep­ly
involved in Greek community affairs,
especially his church and the AHEP A
chapter.
FRANK D. AND
ANGELINE STATHAKOS
Frank D. Stathakos, restaurateur, became
a leader in the Greek community of Dal­las
within a few short years of his arrival
there in 1910. In 1913, he married Ange­line
Polechronopulos, who had arrived
from Greece the previous year and had
the distinction of being the only single
Greek woman in town. The couple was
married by Father Theoclitos of Galves-
. I
ton. In 1917, Stathakos became a found-ing
member of the Orthodox church in
Dallas. He was also active in the Ameri­can
Hellenic Educational and Progressive
Association.
Stathakos had originally immigrated
from Greece to the United States in 1892
and had worked briefly in New York City.
Four years later, he came to Galveston,
but departed soon -for South Africa, where
he arrived in 1900. Returning to America
in 1908, he worked for two years in Gal­veston
before settling permanently in
Dallas. At first, he operated a confection­ary,
but soon expanded into the restau­rant
business.
His wife was also active in community
affairs. Angeline Stathakos became influ­ential
in the Dallas Greek community,
especially after 1926, when she organized
ATHENA, the first Greek woman's club
in the city. The original purpose of
ATHENA was to raise money for land on
vvhich to build a school for local Greek
children. It was said of Mrs. Stathakos
that she had her photograph made each
Saturday to send to her mother in Greece,
as reassurance that the daughter was do­ing
well in her new homeland. This noted
Dallas civic leader died in 1966.
73 - (8'9
THE WEDDING OF FRANK AND ANGELINE
STATHAKOS Courtesy of Mrs. Bettina Lang
~ y . ........ 1.1
.. ' •
/I
ff
THE DALLAS GREEK COMMUNITY, 1920 7:; - 107 Courtesy of Mrs. Virginia Nick
THE HOLY TRINITY
GREEK ORTHODOX
CHURCH AT DALLAS
1915
Greek immigrants began settling in Dal­las
at the turn of the century, and by 1915
there were four hundred in town, mostly
in cafes and other small businesses. The
Greek American Benevolence Society was
organized, and two years later that group
provided the impetus for formation of the
Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church.
Seventy-five families became the nucleus
of this congregation, which purchased a
frame structure at the corner of Sanger
and Riggs. The first regular priest was the
Very Rev. Daddios Lekkas. The Greek
school had forty children in attendance
in the afternoons and on weekends.
By 1952, the rapid growth of the Greek
community necessitated construction of a
new church at the corner of Swiss and
Apple Streets. Over 2,000 persons now
made up the community. In 1958, an an-nual
Greek Festival was.inau£urated as a
means of presenting that culture to the
public and as a fund-raising device for
church and benevolent causes. In 1972,
the interior of the church was completely
redecorated with icons and murals by the
artist John Gerzis of Smyrna.
THE ANNUNCIATION
GREEK ORTHODOX
CATHEDRAL
AT HOUSTON
1917
During the first two decades of this
century, young Greek men and women
sought opportunity in rapidly growing
Houston. The first efforts of these immi­grants
toward organizing a church came
in February, 1910, when fifty charter
members established a congregation. Fa­ther
Angelopulos of New Orleans con­ducted
early morning services in the
Christ Episcopal Church. In 1916, a sec­ond
and more enduring effort was made
to initiate religious services. By 1917, the
Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church
was established with the support of about
thirty families. Although weather-beaten
on the outside, the little chapel sparkled
inside with a jewel-encrusted altar and
crystal chandeliers. The services were
segregated, with men and women seated
on opposite sides of the aisle.
In 1952, an imposing stone church and
auditorium were completed. To this com­plex
the Polemanakos Educational Build­ing
was added in 1967. That same year,
the Houston church was elevated to the
status of a cathedral, when headquarters
of the Eighth Diocese were moved there
from New Orleans. Houston now became
the acknowledged center for Greek Ortho­doxy
in the Southwest. The congregation
is the focal point for a variety of fellow­ship,
education, and service actiVIties.
Since 1967, the parish has held an annual
Greek Festival to keep alive the Greek
culture for the tens-of-thousands who
come to enjoy the food, music, and fun.
Today, Houston is the home of about
5,000 Greek Texans-the largest Greek
community in the state.
73 -2~Y
ANNUNCIATION GREEK ORTHODOX CATHEDRAL
fTC Collection
~
",~,
I. . \
\)
~ ,-
14
- CHRIS SERMAS AND MICHAEL COT.IAS
73-441 Courtesy of Michael Colias
THE COLIAS FAMILY
1920
Waco's Colias brothers-Mike, George,
Pete, and Vic-came to Central Texas
early in this century in response to letters
from their cousin, Chris Sermas, a native
of Sparta. Sermas had arrived in Mon­treal,
Canada, in 1897 and later worked
in Philadelphia and Birmingham. He
came to Waco in 1910 and opened Chris's
Cafe in the center of town. He stayed in
business in that location until it was de­stroyed
by the 1953 tornado.
In 1914, Sermas brought his fourteen ­year-
old nephew, Mike Colias, from Spar­ta
to work in the restaurant. A brother.
George Colias, came later that year, fol-lowed
by Pete and Vic in 1916. They all
worked first as bus1)oys in their cousin's
cafe, learned English, and assumed more
responsible jobs. Pete and Vic operated a
fruit stand, while George went to business
college.
In 1920, the Colias brothers bought
their own cafe on Austin Street and re­named
it the Elite. In time, another Elite
rafe was opf'ned on the circle, and eventu­ally
the hrothers were operating three
eating places in the town. Mrs. George
Colias made Greek pastries for the busi­nesses.
The famili es were memhers of the
St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church,
which they helped found in the late
1940's. They also. becjl.me prominent in
the local AHEP A chapter. Mike was elect­ed
to the Supreme Lodge in 1 ~60. He is a
past president of the Texas Restaurant
Association.
GREEK AMERICAN
PROGRESSIVE
ASSOCIATION
1922
The Greek American Progressive Associa­tion
is a national Greek fraternity organ­ized
at Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in 1922.
Originally for men , the association soon
had women's and children's auxiliary
groups. Most of the members were of
Greek birth ; only the Greek language was
spoken at the meetings. Its aims were to
uphold national traditions and to educate
children in their native language by en­couraging
the spread of Greek schools. In
1967, there were only five chapters of
GAP A in Texas-at Houston, San Anto­nio,
Wichita Falls, Corpus Christi, and
Dallas. Most have become inactive, since
they have failed to attract younger Greek
Texans.
G.A. P .A. PICNIC AT SAN ANTONIO, 1936 73-7" Courtesy of Steve Pepps
FORT WORTH AHEPA CHAPTER BANNER , 't - ~ 7 'f / fTC Collection
AMERICAN HELLENIC
EDUCATIONAL
PROGRESSIVE
ASSOCIATION
1923
Each Greek community in Texas now has
a chapter of the American Hellenic Edu­cational
Progressive Association. This na­tional
Greek American fraternal order
was founded at Atlanta in 1922 to ad­vance
American citizenship and patrio­tism
among new Greek arrivals. Open to
non-Greeks as well, all meetings are con ­ducted
in English in order to foster use of
the new language. The association has
helped bridge the difference between the
old country and the new by developing in
the immigrants a sense of belonging in
their new surroundings. Social and chari­table
activities presently are AHEPA's
basic concerns. It has also promoted edu­cational
scholarships and international
relief work.
The first Texas chapter was organized
at Fort Worth in 1923. This was followed
by chapters in Dallas, Houston, Galves­ton,
EI Paso, San Antonio, Austin, Waco,
Texarkana, San Angelo, Beaumont, and
Corpus Christi. AHEPA has divisions for
women (Daughters of Penelope) , girls
(Maids of Athena), and boys (Sons of
Pericles ) . Often these groups have close
ties with the local Orthodox Church.
Texas is joined with Arkansa's and Lou­isiana
to form District 16 of the natron­al
AHEPA organization. During World
War II, this was the only fraternal group
in America allowed to sell war bonds.
And sell they did-over $500 million!
Texas Greeks have been represented on
the national scene since the second na­tional
convention in 1924. Two of those
conventions have been held in Texas-at
Houston in 1953, and at Dallas in 1967.
Several Greek Texans have served as Su­preme
Governor of the national lodge, be­ginning
with Theo Polemanakos of Hous­ton
in 1925 and continuing as late as 1970
with Nick Demeris of Houston.
THE SEMOS FAMILY
OF DALLAS
It was said that during the depression no
one was ever turned away hungry from
the Jefferson Hotel Coffee Shop in Dallas.
The establishment was owned by Tom
and Victor Semos, natives of Naupaktos.
Tom was born there in 1894; Victor was
four years younger. Tom immigrated to
America in 1909 and worked as a busboy
in Nashville. A year later he moved to
Dallas.
Meanwhile, his younger brother came
to Nashville from Greece in 1912. Victor,
too, worked as a busboy until he found a
VICTOR AND TOM SEMOS 73 - 3 t /
Courtesy of H. D. Pappas Family
16
job with the Columbia Record Company
in Connecticut. After that, he became a
reporter-then foreman-on Atlantis, a
New York-based Greek-language news­paper.
In 1918, he went to Dallas and
joined his brother who was running the
Jefferson Hotel Coffee Shop. They later
acquired a drive-in restaurant, and in
1923, started a coffee and tea wholesale
house.
In 1938, Tom opened the Semos Res­taurant,
after nearly bankrupting himself
while helping compatriots during the
depression. He rebuilt his fortune with
shrewd and perceptive real estate invest­ments.
He served not only the Greek com­munity
through leadership in the Ortho­dox
church and AHEP A, but also the
Dallas region at large as a member of
the Chamber of Commerce, the Commu­nity
Chest, and the Red Cross. He was
also state director of Greek War Relief
during World War II.
Victor Semos's career paralleled that of
his brother, Tom. In 1944, he bought the
Jefferson Hotel Coffee Shop from Tom.
That same year, he opened the famous
Torch Restaurant, in which he housed
his large collection of Greek relics, heir­looms,
artifacts, and wearing apparel.
Vic's community service efforts were no
less far-reaching than Tom's; during
World War II he personally sold three
million dollars' worth of war bonds. He
was a writer and world traveler, who
published several books of poetry and
wrote travel features for the Dallas Times
Herald.
Victor's only son, Chris, is presently
chairman of the Dallas County delegation
in the Texas House of Representatives,
where he has served since 1966. A South­ern
Methodist University graduate, he is
a partner in his father's restaurants. Chris
Semos once was national president of the
Greek Orthodox Youth Association. He
participates actively in many Dallas civic
organizations and is the only Greek Tex­an
ever to serve in the Texas Legislature.
ST. SOPHIA GREEK
ORTHODOX CHURCH
AT SAN ANTONIO
1924
The San Antonio Greek community had
its origin in the last d~cade of the nine-
EASTER DECORATIONS AT ST. SOPHIA CHURCH
tcenth century, although a scattering of
individuals had appeared on the scene
earlier. An ad in the San Antonio Light
in 1890 stated that Dr. J. Theodore Hana­topulos
from Greece could cure rheuma­tism,
fits, cataracts, paralysis, and other
infirmities. And consultations were free!
By the end of World War I, a small but
industrious group of restaurateurs, ped­dlers,
and others formed the nucleus of
the San Antonio community.
Periodic church services were held by
visiting Orthodox priests at St. Mark's
Episcopal Church. The need for a full­time
priest was felt when the community
had to await the late arrival of a priest
from Dallas in order to conduct a funeral.
13-Lf'l').;
Courtesy of Mrs. Arthur Sockler
In 1924, the Greek American Democratic
'Club was formed and began raising mon­ey
for a church. By 1926, plans for the
St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church were
well under way, and within another year
the Byzantine-style structure had been
completed. The first pastor was Father
Emmanuel Panos. In time, a local
AHEPA chapter was sponsored by the
parish, and a Greek school was formed
to perpetuate the language. By the late
1960's, there were over five hundred
members of the church, representing 125
families.
The San Antonio Greek community
grew steadily. On Greek Independence
Day in 1935, fifteen hundred people gath­ered
at the Casino Club for a concert, flag­raising
ceremony, patriotic speeches, and
a dance. In 1961, the community gained
new life from the first annual "Funsti­val,"
a money-raising venture which also
served to present Greek food, dances, and
culture to a wide and appreciative audi­ence.
Many of the colorful icons decorating
the church walls and ceiling were paint­ed
by another long-time pastor, the Rev.
Ergon J. Zografos, who served the parish
from 1930 to 1944 and from 1947 to 1951.
HOUSTON'S TOPIKA
SOCIETIES
1927
The Patmian Society and the Chios Soci­ety,
both of Houston, were typical of the
topika (local) societies founded by Greek
immigrant groups throughout the United
States. although they were the only two
THE PATMIAN SOCIETY, 1948 73 -'S-3
such groups in Texas. These organiza­tions
were composed of people from the
same town, district, or island in Greece,
who wanted to maintain family and so­cial
ties.
The Patmian Society of St. John the
Divine was started in 1927 by friends and
relatives who decided to send assistance to
their native island of Patmos for schools,
hospitals, libraries, and public improve­ments.
The first president of that group
was John Loigos, who had come to Amer­ica
in 1009 and to Houston in 1 C) 1 2. To-
Courtesy of George Voinis
day, there are over five hundred members
in the Patmian Society. Since its incep­tion,
and especially during W orId War II,
the organization has sent over $400,000
to Patmos.
The Agia Marcella Chios Society was
founded in 1946 by immigrants from the
island of Chios who wanted to help repair
the ravages of W orId War II and the
Greek Ci viI War. Medicine, surgical
equipment, and money for food and
clothing were sent by the small Houston
group.
17
18
THOMAS A. ROUSSE
Academic circles in Texas have been en­riched
by the contributions of Greek im­migrants
who have taught in schools, col­leges,
and universities. Thomas A. Rousse
was a widely known member of The Uni­versity
of Texas speech department at
Austin. Born at Krandion, Greece, in
1901, he came with his parents to Ameri­ca
and grew up in Mobile, Texarkana,
and finally in Fort Worth. where his fa ­ther
operated a candy storc. Tom Rousse
and his hrother, George, were among the
first in that Greek community to receivc
a higher education .
Tom Rousse received his first degree
from The University of Texas in 1927
and was soon enlisted as a dehate coach. a
position he retained until 1941. He also
was active in University Interscholastic
League speech activities until his death in
1961. Following World War II service, he
was director of the Veteran's Advisory
Program at The University of Texas. In
1959, he was presented the Excellence
Award for Teaching from the Students'
Association. As a member of the National
Forensic Speech Association, Rousse was
instrumental in setting up the Nixon­Kennedy
television debates during the
1960 presidential campaign.
This distinguished Greek Texan was an
active memher of AHEP A. He was the
Fort Worth delegate to the national con­ventions
iri 1926 ana 1927. Following his
death, a scholarship was esta"Qlished in
his memory by the national AHEPA or­ganization.
ANGELO CARAVAGELI
The Liberty Fish and Oyster Company,
one of the Gulf Coast's " big four," was es­tablished
by Angelo Caravageli, born in
an Aegean fishing village in 1883. He be­came
a marine engineer, made several
trips to the United States, and worked for
a time in Baltimore, before reaching Tex­as
in 1902. At Galveston, he worked for
two different dredging companies before
opening a tavern in 1910. Soon he was
owner of two others. He invested his sav­ings
in a variety of enterprises, such as
the Galveston Ice Cream Company, a
wholesale grocery company (which he
owned in partnership with Frank Celli),
and a retail fish market.
In 1927, Caravageli bought a fishing
hoat. with which he established the Liber­ty
Fish and Oyster Company. He named
THE LIBERTY WHARF AT GALVESTON 77-3;7 Galveston Chamber of Commerce
-----...
..
_: j _ __ L
'" '-; -
his boat the Ida Q. As the business grew,
he bought other vessels, which he named
for members of his family. Eventually,
his fleet consisted of eighteen shrimp
trawlers and six fishing boats, and his
frozen seafood was shipped. throughout
the United States from processing plants
in both Texas and Florida.
During World War II, Caravageli
bought a ship building, 'repairing, and
servicing facility, which he renamed Lib­erty
Ways, Inc. This company was used
in support of United States Navy and
Coast Guard operations. His fueling sta­tion
at Galveston also serviced private
and commercial vessels. Caravageli in­vested
heavily in Galveston real estate:
at one time he owned the S.S. Galveston,
a beach-front hotel. He was a staunch
member of AHEPA and an officer and
benefactor of the Greek Orthodox Church
in Galveston.
A son-in-law, Harris J. Booras, was
an internationally known lawyer who
moved from Boston to Galveston in 1948.
Five times national president of AHEP A
and a leader of Greek War Relief, Booras
was active in the Caravageli enterprises
until his death in 1961.
BROCKLES FOOD
COMPANY
1929
Brockles Restaurant and the Brockles
Food Company in Dallas were ventures
of two Greek immigrant brothers-An­drew
and Bill Brockles. Andrew left
their native Corinth in 1905, and Bill de­parted
in 1913. Andrew worked as a dish-
ANDREW AND BILL BROCKLES ti ,
(Of-2-1 7 o·
washer in St. Louis, then became a steel­worker
in northern mills. In 1914, An­drew
came to Dallas, where he worked as
a waiter. Five years later, he opened his
first cafe, the White Way, with a down
payment of $200.00. On the first day of
business, a customer came in and ordered
hotcakes. Counterman Brockles shouted
"Hotcakes!" to an imaginary cook in the
kitchen, then raced back to cook them
himself. Soon he was joined in business
by his brother, Bill. The White Way was
followed by the Club Cafe in 1929. The
Brockles Restaurant later superseded the
Club Cafe.
Andrew and Bill Brockles hit upon two
very successful ways of actually improv­ing
their volume of business during the
great depression. One was a bit of culi­nary
showmanship called "the sizzling
steak." The other was commercial pro-
Courtesy of the Brockles Family
duction of their special salad dressing.
They had spent more than a year in an
effort to develop a perfect dressing. Their
customers began taking home samples;
so, the brothers bought an eight-quart
mixer and went into production. The
sideline was so profitable that they built a
small plant next to their cafe and organ­ized
it as the Brockles Food Corporation
in 1948.
Andrew and Bill Brockles were both
active in the Dallas Greek community, in
Greek War Relief efforts, AHEP A, the
Orthodox church, and the Texas Restau­rant
Association. Andrew's exuberant, ag­gressive
personality complemented Bill's
quiet, contemplative nature. Bill died in
1957; Andrew in 1965. Bill, Jr., has the
distinction of being the first Greek Texan
to have attended the United States Mili­tary
Academy at West Point.
19
20
THE REV. DANIEL SAKELLARIOU
Courtesy of the Sakellariou Family
73 -Go ~f,.
THE REV. DANIEL
SAKELLARIOU
1932
More than any other man, the Rev. Dan­iel
Sakellariou spread the Greek Orthodox
religion over West Texas. Born at Pyrgos,
Greece, in 1888, he came from a family
of clergymen and church laymen. At
eighteen, he went to Palestine to engage
in church work, then came to America
two years later. Soon he entered the theo­logical
seminary in Chicago. He was or­dained
a priest in 1924.
In the early years of his ministry, Sa­kellariou
served churches in Chicago, in
lural communities of Iowa and VViscon­sin,
and again in Chicago. Injuries sus-tained
in a car wreck forced him to seek
the dry, healthy West Texas climate in
1932. From his base in the Emmanuel
Episcopal Church at San Angelo, he
served parishioners in Abilene, Big
Spring, Midland, and Odessa. After elev­en
months of this activity, he went to the
Holy Trinity Orthodox Church at Dallas.
There he ministered to Greeks in Hills­boro,
Waxahachie, Mexia, Waco, East­land,
and Cisco, as well as in Dallas itself.
In 1944, Sakellariou organized the first
Greek Orthodox church in New Mexico.
This parish also included EI Paso. Two
years later, he was in San Angelo again,
serving the Assumptic,jlTI Church and its
scattered families. In the summers of
1947 and 1948, he worked for the Ortho­dox
church in Amarillo, holding services
and teaching in the Greek school. He ini­tiated
a building program which resulted
in an Orthodox church-St. John the
Prodromos-that served members in Lub­bock,
Borger, and Clovis, New Mexico. III
health forced Sakellariou's retirement in
1958, but he was ' able to serve brief in­terim
appointments in Wichita Falls and
Waco. He died at San Angelo in 1966.
MAX MANUS
1935
Interestingly enough, the nationally
known French restaurant, La Louisiane
of San Antonio, was founded, owned, and
operated by a Greek, the late Max
Manus. He was not only a successful
restaurateur, but also a philanthropist
who exemplified the ideal of the early
Greek immif;rant. Born Rt ApolloniRc in
1891, of Cretan ancestry, he was educated
in Constantinople. He came to America
in 1910 and worked in New York and
Cincinnati before settling in New Or­leans
in 1912. There he worked as maitre
d' in Antoine's. During World War T, he
served in the American Army in France.
In 1922, Manus established his own
restaurant in Chicago, but in 1935 he
came to San Antonio and opened La Lou­isiane.
He was so successful in this ven­ture
that the French government con­ferred
upon him the Ordre de Merite. He
la bored with equal enthusiasm for a va­riety
of Greek causes, among them the
Center for Nco-Hellenic Studies in Aus­tin,
as well as schools and colleges in his
native land. An avid reader and collector
of books on Greek literature, culture, and
religion, he was honored posthumously
with the establishment of the Max Manus
Bvzantine Memorial Library at St. So­phia
Orthodox Church in San Antonio.
He died in 1970. 7/- y,!,
MAX MANUS Courtesy of Mrs. Max Manus
ARTHUR SOCKLER
cou;tJ ~ y3 t hUr Sockler
ARTHUR SOCKLER
1936
Arthur Sockler made many significant
contributions to the welfare of his adopt­ed
city, San Antonio, and particularly to
its Greek community. He became a char­ter
member of its AHEPA chapter in
1938, served on several of its committees,
held offices up to the district level, and
won most of its service awards. He was
longtime treasurer of the St. Sophia Greek
Orthodox Church and served as chanter
for its services until his death in 1971. He
helped establish, and became a patron of,
the Center for Neo-Hellenic Studies at
Austin.
Born Anastasios Sokialides at Ephisus
in 1895, Sockler came to America in
1918, with the assistance of an uncle,
John Rosettidis of Shreveport. Soon the
young man opened a restaurant in
Shreveport. Early one morning, he went
to open the place for business and could
not find it. Heavy rains during the night
had washed away an entire section of the
block. Sockler became a citizen in 1923,
but from 1925 to 1930 he lived in Greece.
On his return to America, he opened a
cafe in Chicago, where he remained until
1936.
He came to Texas that year to assist his
brother, who wanted a leave of absence
from his own restaurant in order to visit • #
Greece. For a decade, from 1937 to 1947,
Arthur was owner and operator of' the
Prudential Restaurant in the Alamo City.
Following his retirement from the food­service
business, he supervised his invest­ments
and devoted an increasing amount
of his time to community projects.
SMALLER GREEK
ORTHODOX
COMMUNITIES
1940's
The promise of business opportunity be­gan
drawing Greeks to Waco early in the
twentieth century. In 1926, the St. Nicho­las
Orthodox Church was organized there
by six families and about fifty bachelors.
Thereafter, the congregation was periodi­cally
visited by a priest from Dallas or
elsewhere. Fund raising for the construc­tion
of a church building began in 1946;
the structure itself was completed three
years later. Eventually, a full-time priest
was employed. Never large, the Waco
Greek community now has only fifty to
sixty parishioners. .
Austin's small, unorganized Greek col­ony
has actually declined since World
War II. One of the first immigrants to ar­rive
in the capital was Theodore Koura­velos,
who came in 1909 and opened the
Olympia Candy Kitchen on Sixth Street.
Numbers of business and professional
people of Greek lineage came to Austin,
as did faculty and students who were
drawn to the University. Today there are
less than thirty Greek families in Austin.
Small colonies also existed at Wichita
Falls, El Paso, and Port Arthur. One of
the first Greeks in Wichita Falls was
A. H. Fall, who opened a confectionary
there in 1909. By 1927, there were about
fifteen families in the neighborhood,
many drawn by the nearby oil boom. El
Paso's Holy Trinity Orthodox Church
was established by approximately thirty
families a generation ago, but has been
closed, as many of its members have
moved away. POlt Arthur's St. George
Orthodox Church was built in 1948
through the effort of a small yet deter­mined
group of Greek businessmen who
had begun fund-raising efforts eight years
earlier. From a peak of about thirty fami­lies,
the membership has declined to no
more than a dozen at present.
In 1930, the Greek community at San
Angelo was organized with an initial
membership of thirty-five families. Char­tered
in 1932, the congregation purchased
a small building from the Emmanuel
Episcopal Church in 1938, then reno-
21
1
I
22
vated it for use by their own parishioners.
The first Greek in San Angelo may have
been A. Theofilos, who- according to the
San Angelo Standard-was operating a
restaurant there in 1885. Many of the
early Greeks in that West Texas commu­nity
owned cafes or confectionaries. To­day
their numbers include professional
people, businessmen, and ranchers. They
support not only the church, but also a
school and a local AHEP A chapter.
GEORGE ECONOMOU
1941
George Economou was a sailor with a sea
chest full of books. Largely self-taught in
his youth, he acquired vast knowledge of
such diverse topics as astronomy, philoso­phy,
and geography. He published nu­merous
articles in nautical magazines
and kept a log of his sea travels, which
became the basis of an unpublished mem­oir
of his World War II adventures.
Economou was born George Papaecono­mou
on the Isle of Thassos in 1891. After
attending public schools, he entered a
merchant marine academy to become a
sea captain. Later, as a deck hand, he
sailed into Newport News, Virginia, left
his ship, and enlisted in the American
Navy prior to World War I. After the
war, he became an American citizen,
married a Greek bride in 1927, and esta b­lished
a home in Galveston the following
year. He and his wife became the parents
of two daughters. His thirst for knowl­edge
brought him two degrees: a law de­gree
in 1941 and another in traffic man­agement.
GEORGE ECON070U _ t;;g4 of Mrs. K. Veletsos
During Wor a War It George Econo­mou
was the master of various American
vessels convoying -war materiel in both
oceans, but particularly in the Atlantic
theater. On one of these trips, General
George C. Patton was aboard. The gen­eral,
in appreciation of Economou's long
hours of sleepless night watch, gave the
seaman his canvas jacket. It became a
prized memento to the receiver. Economou
also led the first convoy into Hiroshima
following the atomic attack on the J apa­nese
metropolis. Here, he was presented
with a surrender sword by a Japanese offi­cer.
Economou died while on duty in
1951 .
FRANK AND
VIRGINIA NICK
1943
A successful Dallas businessman, church
leader, and patron of the arts and educa­tion,
Frank Nick was born Apostolos Tse­voucas
at the Greek village of Scopi in
1888. He came to America in 1904 and
settled at Shreveport, Louisiana, where he
opened a shoeshine parlor. The following
year, he moved his business to Beaumont
and finally to Dallas in 1906. In the
1930's, he became a restaurateur and club
owner and then began investing in real
estate. He was active in AHEPA and in
MRS. VIRGINIA NICK 73 -/03
Courtesy of Mrs. Virginia Nick
the Greek War Relief effort following
World War II.
A man with no formal education,
Frank Nick established schools, scholar­ships,
and aided in the building of the
new Holy Trinity Orthodox Church in
Dallas. He established a fund to imple­ment
an exchange student program­bringing
a Greek student to Dallas, while
sending an American one to Greece. Since
his death in 1970, his wife, Virginia, has
continued the program and has funded a
scholarship in his memory at Anatolia
College in Salonika, Greece. In his life­time,
Nick was a patron of the Dallas
Theater Center and the Dallas Civic Op­era.
He also built a school and two
churches in his native Greek village.
Virginia Nick, daughter of Faithon
Lucas, is one of the most energetic and
wide-ranging civic leaders in Dallas. It is
her native city. She has contributed to
nearly every worthwhile aspect of its civ­ic,
cultural, educational, scientific, and
business advancement. A graduate of
Southern Methodist University, Mrs.
Nick began her public service during
World War II, when she worked for the
Red Cross, Community Chest, and Greek
War Relief. In 1948, she was married to
Frank Nick.
Always interested in Christian educa­tion,
she began the first Sunday School at
Dallas's Greek Orthodox Church and
helped initiate its annual festival and ba­zaar.
In recent times, she has been active
in the United Fund and has continued the
scholarship program begun by her hus­band.
She has also given substantial aid to
the opera, the symphony, the ballet, and
the theater in her hometown. In 1968, she
brought the Greek Theater to Dallas, the
first time this group had ever appeared
outside New York City while on Ameri­can
tour. She has also served on the Texas
Fine Arts Commission.
In addition to cultural activities, Mrs.
Nick has been a member of the Dallas
Board of Realtors, the Greater Dallas
Planning Council, and the Dallas Council
on World Affairs. The Greek government
has officially recognized her contribution
to Greek American friendship. In 1971,
she was made an honorary Greek citizen.
I
FRANK NICK'S SHOESHINE PARLOR AT DALLAS
GREEK INDEPENDENCE
DAY
March 25, Greek Independence Day, has
been officially observed in Texas since
1943, when Governor Coke Stevenson pro­claimed
"Greek Independence in Texas."
It all began in 1821, when Archbishop
Germanos of Patras raised the banner
of freedom and started the bloody war
against Ottoman rule. Eight weary years
later, the tiny Kingdom of Greece, with
the aid of Western European powers, was
independent.
From the early years of the twentieth
century, this anniversary has been cele-
73 -/ 72/ Courtesy of Mrs. Virginia Nick
23
bra ted by Greek T exans in their homes,
communities, and churches. The event is
marked with feasts, costumed dancing,
speech making, flag raising, and a special
church service on the Sunday nearest
M-arch 25. The occasion remains impor­tant
in many Texas communities where
those of Greek ancestry take pride in their
national heritage.
ARTHUR MITCHELL
1946
For many years, Arthur Mitchell's cram
course for law students about to take the
har exam was the only one of its kind in
Texas. Established in 1946, the school op­erated
first in Waco, then in Austin, and
has enrolled more than 6,500 students.
Mitchell, now an Austin attorney, was
born at Shreveport in 1925. He came with
his parents to Taylor, T exas, when he was
only three. His father, who had been a
Greek shepherd until his immigration in
1902, operated a r estaurant in the Central
Texas community. Young Mitchell at­tended
Taylor public schools, served in
World War II, then entered n earby Bay­lor
University, from which he received
both a bachelor's and a law degree in
1950. Today Arthur Mitchell has a suc-
13-33' . I
GREEK INDEPENDENCE CELEBRATION AT DALLAS, 1926 Courtesy of the H. D. Pappas Family
-:l
ARTHUR MITCHELL ITC Collection
(,r-2.1 SJ
cessful Austin law practice and, like his
father, owns a sheep ranch near town.
There he has planted a typical Greek or­chard
with terraces of vegetables, herbs,
olives, almonds, and figs.
ST. JOHN THE
PRODROMOS ORTHODOX
CHURCH AT AMARILLO
1949
The Texas Panhandle attracted a number
of Greek immigrant families to Borger,
Pampa, Amarillo, and Lubbock. One of
the first arrivals was Pete Bistris from the
Island of Andros, who opened a drugstore
at Amarillo in 1913. Pete and George
Georgantonis came in 1920 to establish a
confectionary in the same town. The
brothers were natives of Sparta. At near-
by Borger, John and Gus Yiantzou opened
a' cafe and hardware store in 1926. This
pair had immigrated from the Island of
Eubros in 1910 to seek their fortune in
America. They found their promised land
in the Texas Panhandle.
In 1949, the church of St. John the Pro­dromos
was constructed at Amarillo on
land donated by the Yiantzou brothers.
That same year, a Panhandle chapter of
AHEP A was formed for the Greek men of
that area. In 1972, there were about fifty­six
families in the parish, which main­tained
a community center and parish
house in addition to the church.
ST. NICHOLAS
ORTHODOX CHURCH
AT CORPUS CHRISTI
1950
During the early 1900's, Greek families
settled in Corpus Christi, where a number
of them opened restaurants, a business
which they soon came to dominate in the
coastal city. The Faust Cafe was estab­lished
in the late 1920's by the pioneer
Lymberry family-Andrew and his
nephews Meydon, Jack, and Kimon. John
Govatos opened the Pier Cafe, while his
brother, Clem, operated the Nixon. Dur­ing
the depression, the Pier was half-jok­ingly
referred to as the "Salvation Army"
because JOh11 Govatos gave out scores of
free meals. One of his paying customers
was the young administrative assistant to
to the area congressman. The aide, Lyn­,
Ion Johnson, and Govatos remained fast
friends until the former's death in 1973.
In those early days, visiting Orthodox
priests held occasional services, but after
the 1930's the expanding Greek commu­nity
began expressing the desire for a
church and full-time pastor. The ladies
formed the Delphi Club to raise money
for a sanctuary. During the 1940's, there
were approximately thirty families in the
community. These were the crux of the
church, St. Nicholas, which was built in
1950. The first priest to serve there was
the Rev. Emmanuel Panos, who stayed
from 1950 to 1965. By 1970, there were
about 250 members in the parish.
LORENE MICHALOPULOS
1952
Lorene Michalopulos has had <1. successful
career not only as an operatic perforIner,
but also as a voice instuctor. Born and
educated in San Angelo, she is the daugh­ter
of a Greek immigrant who opened a
confectionary there in 1925. Lorene stud­ied
voice at The University of Texas in
Austin, receiving her bachelor of music
degree in 1952.
After obtaining a master's from Co­lumbia
the following year, she taught
voice at U.T. and sang in various musical
productions there. During this time, she
also published A Byzantine Hymnal in
English for St. Elias Orthodox Church,
where she was choir director. It was her
compilation and translation into English
of Greek liturgical music for use in Ortho­dox
services. It was approved by the Anti­ochian
Orthodox Church and is widely
used today.
Lorene Michalapulos later sang in op­eratic
productions in New York, Houston,
LORENE MICHALOPULOS 73 - 8'1 ') Courtesy of Lorene Michalopulos
and Dallas. Since 1964, she has taught
voice, diction, and vocal literature at the
University of Tennessee. She has contin­ued
to perfonn with symphonic groups
and has been soloist and choir director for
St. George's Orthodox Church in Knox­ville.
SPIRO MARTEL
Houston's Spiro Martel-investor, banker,
and philanthropist-came from an edu­cated
family in Argostoli, Greece, where
his father was a school official. The boy
was sent to France in 1910 to complete
his education, but aspired to be a prize
25
I
26
{' o,
f, ".
/, ",
f~t'\~I;
~.
SPIRO MARTEL 77-31fo Houston Chronicle
fighter or wrestler and ran away to be­come
a ship's cabin boy until he reached
maturity, When Martel first saw Ameri­ca's
Statue of Liberty he decided to jump
ship and become an American citizen.
For the next few years, he was successive­ly
a Wall Street messenger, a florist's de­livery
boy, and a newspaper salesman.
With savings, he bought a restaurant in
Buffalo, New York, and began investing
in real estate.
During World War I, Martel served a
stint of military nuty at two Texas train­ing
sites, After the war, he settled in
Houston and, with partners, opened the
Houston Cafe ann then the Blue Bell Res­taurant.
In 1930, he marrien Marion Fox,
In 1952_ the couple made a major contri-bution
to the first education building­S.
P. Martel Hall-at Houston's Annun­ciation
Greek Orthodox Cathedral. After
Mrs, Martel's death in 1956, the Marion
and Spiro Martel Foundation was estab­lished
to assist educational and medical
research. The foundation has aided nu­merous
colleges with scholarships and
professorships.
THE ATHENS BAR
AND GRILL
1961
The Athens Bar and Grill on Houston's
waterfront offers the food, music, and at­mosphere
of a typical Greek port restau­rant.
When the ships are in, it is not un­usual
to see Greek sailors danCing circles
around Texans who frequent the Athens.
Steve Vionis, from the Island of Paros,
had visited Houston during the years he
spent as a sailor and, later, chief steward
on a Greek ship. He and his Texas-born
wife recognized the potential for an au­thentic
Greek restaurant. They opened
the establishment 'as a bar in 1961 and
soon began serving the native foods re­quested
by sailors. His first culinary
equipment consisted of nothing more
than a small frying pan warmed on a hot
plate. Today that frying pan occupies a
place of honor in the kitchen as a remind­er
of the lean years.
Soon, the Athens became a meeting
place for Greek merchant seamen, where
they could enjoy a home environment
with festive music and dancing. Others
were attracted by the unique charm of
the place, and by 1965 larger new quar-ters
were required. The old building was
razed and a new one erected in its place.
Feature articles in leading magazines and
newspapers have swelled customer ranks
until, once again, the Athens is unable
to seat all of its fun-loving clientele.
CONSTANCE CONDOS
1962
At the time of her death in 1972, Con­stance
Stathakos Condos had been an in­fluential
Dallas community leader since
the 1930's. Encouraged by her mother,
Angeline Stathakos, Constance became
active in club work soon after h er gradu­ation
from Southern Methodist Univer­sity,
She headed a number of women's
activities_ including the Dallas' Federa­tion
of 'Women's Clubs, She also chaired
the women's division for most of the ma-
MRS. CONSTANCE CONDOS 72 - 3JSJ
Courtesy of Mrs, Bellina Lang
jor fund drives and served on the Dallas
Library Board, as well as the City Plan­ning
Commission. Governor John Con­nally
named her to the first Committee
on the Legal Status of Women, and May­or
Erik Jonsson designated her one of the
original conferees on Goals for Dallas.
She was the only woman ever to be hon­ored
with all three of Dallas's major serv­ice
awards: the Zonta Awa.rd in 1962, the
Arete in 1963, and the Linz in 1964. Hers
was a life of service to the entire Dallas
community.
CENTER FOR
NEO·HELLENIC STUDIES
1965
The Center for Neo-Hellenic Studies was
established in 1965 by Dr. George G.
Arnakis, professor of history in The Uni­versity
of Texas at Austin. The center
is chiefly concerned with publication of
writings by those Americans who partici­pated
in the Greek Revolution from 1821
to 1829. Thus far, seven books of the series
have been published. In 1967-68, the
center gave a scholarship and made plans
to publish the C.N.H.S. Bulletin. The em­blem
for the organization is a phoenix ris­ing
from the ashes, symbolizing the eter ­nal
quality of Hellenism.
The founder, Dr. Arnakis, is a native
of Constantinople. He received his doctor­ate
from the University of Athens, then
came to America in 1948. He taught in
universities at Kansas City, Chicago, and
Fort Worth before joining The University
of Texas at Austin in 1955. Interested in
the American Greek experiences, as well
as other aspects of Byzantine and modern
Greek history, he has been instrumental
in building a large collection of nine­teenth
and twentieth century books and
journals supplementing an already im­pressive
classical library. A prolific writ­er,
Arnakis has authored or edited a dozen
books and over three hundred articles.
DAN J. CASSIS­ICONOGRAPHER
1968
Houston's Dan Cassis is a Galena Park
art teacher who creates Byzantine icons,
the religious art of the Eastern Orthodox
DAN CASSIS 77 - ,-!-UD I
Church. Born in Galaxidion, Greece, in
1934, he received a part of his education
in Athens, but was graduated from high
school at Shreveport, Louisiana, in 1953.
He continued his education at Northwest­ern
Louisiana State College and the Uni­versity
of Houston. After army service, he
became an art instructor, specializing in
iconography. These works express a spiri­tual
quality, using sacred and symbolic
forms.
Cassis paints on carefully selected
boards, applying gold leaf backgrounds
to represent heaven. On this is produced
in oils the rest of the scene as researched
Courtesy of Dan Cassis
from the scriptures. The form and colors
are fixed, traditional, and always in two
dimensions. Cassis's icons are produced
for church use and for homes which have
corner sanctuaries. Icons serve spiritual
purposes and are not for decoration.
JUDGE THOMAS A.
THOMAS
1969
Texas's only judge of Greek ancestry,
Thomas A. Thomas, has presided over the
172nd District Court of Jefferson County
since 1969. Thomas is the son of Greek
immigrant parents who settled in that lo­cale
during World War 1. The judge re­ceived
both his undergraduate and law
degrees from The University of Texas at
Austin. After Korean War service, Thom­as
became a r esident of Port Arthur. He
served successively as assistant district at­torney
for Jefferson County, city judge in
Port Arthur, and as attorney for the Port
JUDGE THOMAS A. THJM~S ~ I 07 (.
Courtesy of Thomas A. Thomas
Arthur Navigation District. In 1965, he
was appointed Judge of the County Court
at Law No.2 and was elected to a full
four-year term in 1966. Three years later,
he became Judge of the 172nd District
Court, a post he still holds.
GREEK TEXAN ATHLETES
1970
Early in the twentieth century, Greek
dubs organized sports teams and spon ­sored
such events as AHEPA's youth
"Olympiads," held during district con­ventions.
GAPA also sponsored team
sports to maintain the ancient Greek tra­dition
of athletic. ski11 and physical fit­ness.
The first professional athletes from
the Greek Texan community 'entered the
wrestling arena. Among these were
George Pappas of Fort Worth and John
Panos of Houston. World champion Jim
Londos fought many bouts in Texas dur­ing
the 1920's.
Later, Greek Texans began winning
fame in college and professional football.
George Zarafonetis played for Texas
A&M University from 1927 to 1929. Lat­er
San Antonio's Damon Tassos l ettered
on the Aggies' powerful 1943-44 team and
went on to pro football with the Detroit
Lions and Green Bay Packers from 1947
to 1950. During his career, he won such
distinctions as All-Southwest Conference
Guard and Linebacker in 1944 and All­Pro
in 1947. The University of Texas also
had outstanding Greek Texan football
players, beginning with Nick Gatoura,
who played on the 1930 Longhorn team.
Bill George of Fort Worth lettered at
\
BILL ATESSIS
73-1}, ,
"
~
The University of Teras
at Austin, Sports Information Office
Texas in 1950-52 and was All-Southwest
Conference Defensive End. Center Jim
Achilles of Houston lettered on the 1968-
70 Longhorn squads. Bill Atessis, also of
Houston, played on the same team as de­fensive
end. Atessis lettered in 1968-70,
was All-Southwest Conference in 1969,
and All-America in 1969-70. Atessis later
joined the New England Patriots.
Greek Texans have also been represent­ed
in other sports activities. Beaumont's
Mike Cokinos played basketball at Texas
A&M, where he was All-America during
the early 1940's. Others have shown spec­tacularly,
if briefly, on many college
scenes.
BISHOP JOHN
OF THERMON
1971
On December 1, 1967, Houston, Texas,
became the See of the Eighth Diocese
of the Greek Archdiocese of North and
South America. This diocese covers elev­en
states from Wyoming to the Florida
Panhandle and has a population of 50,000
members. Bishop Iacovos of Catania be­came
the first Texas-based Greek Ortho­dox
prelate. He was succeeded by Bishop
John of Thermon, whose ordination took
place in an elaborate three-hour cere­mony
at the Annunciation Greek Ortho­dox
Cathedral in January, 1971.
This first American-born bishop of the
Greek Orthodox faith is a Chicago native
and the son of immigrant parents. He was
educated at Boston College, Holy Cross
73 -], 73
BISHOP JOHN OF THERMON
Courtesy of His Grace, Bishop John of Thermon
Greek Orthodox Theological Seminary,
and the Athens Theological School. He
took Holy Orders in 1955 as a deacon and
became a priest the following year. He
served parishes in Massachusetts, Ala­bama,
and North Carolina before becom­ing
the youngest bishop in the American
archdiocese.
AMBASSADOR
VIRON P. VAKY
1972
The American ambassador to Costa Rica,
Viron P. Vaky, is a career diplomat who
was born at Corpus Christi, Texas. He is
the youngest son of Peter Vaky, a restau­rateur
and real estate investor who came
to Texas in 1920. The elder Vaky was
from the Island of Mitilini off the Turkish
coast. He left it in 1899 and lived succes­sively
in New York City, Mobile, and
Shreveport before coming to Corpus
Christi. He and a nephew, George Plo­marity,
opened a cafe at the corner of
Chaparral and Starr Streets. Plomarity
now recalls, "It was a small town; we all
knew each other and people went out of
their way to help you." The son, Viron,
was graduated from Del Mar College in
1943, served in World War II, and then
attended the Foreign Service Institute at
George Washington University. He re­ceived
a master's degree in international
relations from the University of Chicago.
Most of Vaky's career has been spent in
Latin America, including posts in Ecua­dor,
Argentina, Colombia, and Guate­mala.
In 1968, he returned to Washing­ton
to serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary
AMBASSADOR VIRON P. VAKY AND FAMILY
73 -9;3' U.S. State Department
of State for Inter-American Affairs. In
1969, he became a senior staff member of
the National Security Council under Dr.
Henry Kissinger and served as a lecturer
at Georgetown's Foreign Service School.
In August, 1972, President Nixon ap­pointed
the Greek Texan to his present
post as Ambassador to Costa Rica.
FRANK N. MANITZAS
1973
Frank Manitzas of San Angelo, Texas, is
presently correspondent for the CBS net­work
in Buenos Aires. He is the son of
Nick Manitzas, who, with his brothers,
George and Steve, was in the restaurant
business for three decades. After graduat­ing
from Texas A&M University with a
degree in journalism, Frank Manitzas
29
30
THE MANITZAS BROTHERS OF SAN ANGELO 73-' <17 Courtesy of the Manitzas Family
worked as a reporter on the San Angelo
Standard-Times. In 1959, he joined the
Associated Press at Austin and, a year lat­er,
was chief of the A.P. bureau in Santi­ago,
Chile. In 1964, Manitzas became a
free-lance journalist, working most of the
time for McGraw-Hill, Inc. In 1967, he
was made deputy director for CBS special
events, with responsibility for covering
the national political conventions in 1968
and 1972. In 1973, he was on the scene to
report the downfall of President Salva­dore
Allende in Santiago, Chile, and was
the first correspondent able to broadcast
an account of the event to the outside
world.
FESTIVAL DAYS
In the Greek household, Christmas is a
solemn occasion preceded by prayer, fast­ing,
or meditation. A strict fast is ob­served
on Christmas Eve. Holy Commun­ion
is taken at midnight services, and re­freshments
are often served immediately
afterwards. Originally, gift-giving usu­ally
occurred on St. Basil's Day (New
Year's) but increasingly is being done on
Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. Chil­dren
go carolling to Greek homes and
stores in exchange for small gifts. In
observance of St. Basil's Day, a coin is
baked in a special cake called a vasilopita.
When the cake is cut, the finder of the
coin is supposed to have good luck in the
coming year.
Epiphany-the baptism of Christ ac­cording
to Eastern Orthodox belief-is
observed on January 6. The Greeks, who
have lived as fishermen since time imme­morial,
have utilized the event for "Bless­ing
of the Waters." The ceremony has
been perpetuated in public services at
Galveston, Port Arthur, and Corpus
Christi. The blessing is usually an inter­denominational
service, with Greek Or­thodox
priests participating in the water­front
rites. A small cross is thrown into
the harbor, and the youngster who finds
and returns it receives a blessing and a
promise of good fortune.
Easter is the most important religious
holiday for those of the Greek Orthodox
faith. It marks the end of Lent. Holy
Week is filled with many special services.
On Good Friday evening, a flower-covered
bier (epitaphios), representing Christ's
tomb, is carried in procession around the
church. The Resurrection is commemo­rated
by a Saturday midnight candlelight
procession and Liturgy, followed by an
ela borate breakfast marking the end of
the long Lenten fast. The food for this
breakfast is blessed by the priest. It con­sists
of specially prepared breads, cheeses,
meats, and pastries. Of particular note is
tsoureki, a special bread topped with a
red Easter egg. Red eggs-symbolizing
the blood of Christ-are broken after the
service, amid greetings of "Christ is ris­en
l " answered by "He is truly risen."
Easter is a time for Greek families to en­joy
picnics and reunions.
! t
' f. ~
GREEK INDEPENDENCE DAY CELEBRATION AT DALLAS Courtesy of Miss Jenny Sakellariou
73--911
Name days, baptisms, weddings, and
funerals are also given special treatment
in the Greek Orthodox religion. At his
baptism, a child is given the name of a
saint and thereafter celebrates that saint's
feast day as well as his own birthday.
A wedding is an hour-long rite which
requires a certain stamina, especially on
the part of the couple and the best man.
The latter stands behind the bride and
groom, both of whom wear wreaths. The
best man's function is to exchange these
wreaths three times during the service.
Unconsecrated wine is sipped by the cou­ple
as a symbol of the joy they will share.
Three times, the couple is led around a
temporary altar, placed outside the sanc­tuary,
to the accompaniment of hymns
honoring the Virgin, the Apostles, and
the Martyrs. A reception follows, at
which the bride and groom have the first
dance. In olden days, these festive occa­sions
might last ten days. Once there was
heavy emphasis on marrying within the
Greek Orthodox faith, but this emphasis
has diminished with time, as has the
dowry system which prospective brides
once took very seriously.
CONCLUSION
One of Texas's most colorful and visible
groups, the Greeks. have contributed im­pressively
with their business ability as
well as their ancient traditions. Respected
by their fellow Texans for their hard
work and rlesire for advancement, Greeks
have now entered all professions in our
fast-growing state. From Galveston fish-
31
32
ermen to the lonely but determined
youngsters who found jobs in Fort
Worth's packing houses or in countless
restaurant kitchens at the turn of the cen­tury,
came the foundation for the urban
Greek communities of Texas. Strong fam­ily
ties, pride in heritage, the Orthodox
faith, and social organization through
formal community life have all helped
maintain the Greek identity.
A half century has passed since the first
Greek communities established roots in
Texan soil. Their contribution is particu­larly
visible in the beauty of their Ortho­dox
churches, which flourish in almost a
dozen cities. In addition, Greek festivals
-music, dancing, and foods-have sup­plemented
what the ancient Greeks gave
us-literature, art, music, drama, archi­tecture,
and political theory. Perhaps no
other group can claim as much. Conflu­ence
of cultures in modern Texas society
takes on added meaning because the
Greeks came and stayed.
One of a series
prepared by the staff of
THE UNIVERSITY OF TEXAS
AT SAN ANTONIO
INSTITUTE OF TEXAN CULTURES
1974
.
\D