Left Kyparissi (KYP) yesterday, but only in body not spirit. In fact, I began a process of finding a place to stay there next spring for 2 months. Yup, KYP earned a try-out for permanent status...
I had hoped that relatives who no longer lived there full-time would join the traditional convergence on their horio for Easter. KYP was indeed quite crowded over the holiday weekend, but not with the important people on my list. One of two surviving children of my Papou's brother Ilias (the infamous Louis Sarris) called me from Athens to lament that we would not meet. I promised to visit on my next trip. He seemed sad about that...
And I got to thinking...for 6 days I heard over and over again, "He could have answered your questions" or "My Yiayia knew all about that." In fact, one font of information, George Poulakis, passed about 10 days before I got there. Another, George "Mountzouras" Kolomvotos (also of San Mateo) died suddely about 2 months ago. I wasn't going to miss a chance to meet Ioannis Sarris and his sister Angeliki sooner rather than later!
So I changed my plans and stopped over in Athens on my way back to Thessaloniki. I had asked him what could I bring from his horio. "Haroupia!" he said laughingly. This morning I went to his apt in N. Irakleon -- an Athens northern suburb not so easy or cheap to get to today because all public transportation workers were on strike. Again.
Uncle Ioannis Sarris, my mother's first cousin, got his haroupia (carob pods) whether he was joking or not, and he laughed some more... and seemed quite pleased to meet me -- right along with his son Ilias, sister Angeliki and her daughter Voula (Paraskevi!), and Eleni Ianniou who is the widow of their brother Anastasios. Thea Angeliki kept asking, "What is the purpose of this Family Tree investigation?" Her nephew's answer? "So we can find out who we are!"
I had met Eleni last summer in KYP. Her sister is a historian who continues to write about her village. Eleni came armed with more paperwork than me, and we (sort of) took turns sharing info and asking questions. We finally identified "Thea Andonina," who sold a Sarris aloni (threshing place) and home to the father of an old geezer I had been hanging out in the kafeneion with. I now know where in KYP the Sarris family lived before Ilias built the large home above the Sarris Mill. Her husband Andonis died in the States in 1919. We're not sure if he was the brother of Papou George Sarris' father Nicholas, or...
But there was bigger news: Nicholas Sarris -- who first bought the mill in 1907 -- also came to the States and then returned, potentially even before my Papou came over in 1911. Got to shuffle those old photos back in Miami again to see if we can identify the man who then died in KYP on March 9, 1922. To be continued...
Sent from my BlackBerry 10 smartphone on the Verizon Wireless 4G LTE network.
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