With the debate over the recent Muslim ban that is now on hold through the courts while Donald Trump is firing off another one, I have come to realize that not very many people understand the true sacrifice and bravery it takes for people to leave everything they have ever known behind to come to our country in hopes of a better life, one that is not guaranteed.
Immigration is a complex issue and there are many reasons why people make their way to the freedom the United States offers. I realize that some do it illegally but many of the people who were affected by this latest ban have green cards and were already living in the United States. Listening to their stories, it made me curious about my dad’s experience making his way to the United States at just 14-years-old. So, I did what any good reporter does, I interviewed him and this is his story:
Bill, Vasilis in Greek, said his family grew their own food and had no running water in their little village in Greece, Ambelakia, which is located about 50 miles from Athens. He was working in the field one day when his father came to him and asked if he wanted to go live in America.
“I had never been out of the village we lived in. I did not know anything about America but I knew I wanted to go,” Bill said.
It took Bill’s father, Nicholas, two years to complete all of the necessary paperwork, obtain passports, and arrange the travel plans to begin their journey. Nicholas’ brother, Pete, his wife, Helen, and their daughter, Vicky, were already living in Bucyrus, Ohio, and were patiently waiting the arrival of their nephew to arrive with his father.
Bill and his dad made their way to Athens, Greece, and stayed with his brother, Chris, overnight. People from the village went to see them off, where Greek musicians played music as they boarded the SS Olympia. It was a new ship and only the second trip it would make to the United States.
After a two-hour layover in Portugal, Spain, the ship headed out into the Atlantic Ocean. Bill said he was seasick over the next 13 days until they arrived at the port in New York City on Christmas Eve, 1955. A travel agent met them and took them to what is now Grand Central Station where they boarded a train for Crestline, Ohio, where they would be met by Pete and Helen.
“We arrived in Crestline at 6:30 on Christmas morning. Uncle Pete drove us around Bucyrus to see the Christmas decorations before taking us to his house,” Bill said.
Bill had never laid eyes on a television set until he walked into his aunt and uncle’s house and Looney Tunes was on the tube.
“My cousin loved the Lone Ranger and I still tease her about that,” Bill said of his cousin, Vicky.
He was amazed and excited to be in his new environment, although he missed his mom, sister, and brother who were back home in the village and his older siblings who had settled in Athens.
After the local school’s Christmas break, Bill, went to class with his younger cousin. He was almost 15-years-old so sitting in the little chairs at Crawford Elementary School was not easy for him but he was determined to learn to read, write and speak English properly. He was a fast learner and headed to the junior high school the next year to catch up with students his own age. By then, his father had landed a great job at Ohio Crane and Bill was working for the owners of the company, the Michaels family, as the caretaker at their home on Marion Road.
“My dad and I worked hard to not only pay our bills, but to send money back home to my mom and siblings. They were saving up to come to this country to join us in our new life,” Bill said.
He and his dad had moved into the apartment above the locally famous shoe shine Uncle Pete owned and operated, Pete’s Shoeshine. It was there that Bill would first lay his eyes on the girl he would one day marry, as she walked by the shop after school. Her name was Dorothy and he still remembers that day like it was yesterday.
“I whistled at her. I just knew that she was the one for me,” said Bill.
The pair began dating and soon, Bill and his dad moved to a house down the street from the shop to prepare for the arrival of Bill’s mother, Kostantina, and his two younger siblings.
“We had saved enough money for them to come. It took about two years and I was very happy to see my mom and sister and brother,” Bill said.
Bill’s high school days were not without some amount of strife. He was a Greek guy in a predominantly all-American town. A boy named Vance, who was known as a bad-ass in the area, was of particular concern to Bill.
“He, along with several of his friends, bullied me but one day, I had enough. I told him to meet me an alley by the newspaper office. He hit me once, I hit him back, knocking him to the ground, he got back up, shook my hand and told me we are now friends. I guess he respected me for standing up to him. After that, he was fine and never made fun of me again,” said Bill with a grin on his face.
At 18, Bill graduated from high school and headed off to boot camp for the U.S. National Guard. Bill and his dad had obtained green cards with permanent citizenship and he wanted to do everything he could for his new country that was so welcoming to his family. He served in the National Guard for the next eight years and married the love of his life at the church the Baptist girl and Greek Orthodox boy picked out together, St. Paul’s Lutheran in Bucyrus.
Bill worked at North Electric but was laid off and took a job at Swan Rubber. He bounced between the two jobs each time he was laid off, never missing a day of work or needing unemployment. Eventually, he settled in at Swan where he would work his way from machine operator to foreman to middle management. In the midst of all of this, he and his wife had two children, Kim and Chris, and in the early 1970’s, he took his citizenship test in Cleveland and was sworn-in as an American citizen, a goal he strived for since he arrived in the United States on that Christmas Day.
“The judge explained it all to us extremely well and it was a very interesting, nice ceremony. There were about 300 of us that day who received our American citizenship,” Bill said. “A very proud day in my life.”
After 30 years at Swan Hose, downsizing forced Bill out of his comfort zone and he followed in the footsteps of all of his siblings and became a business owner, opening the doors to the Little Athens Greek restaurant in Bucyrus, a small town with a population that favors burgers and fries rather than ethnic foods. In spite of that, the great food and family recipe tzatziki sauce won over the locals and brought in many out-of-towners.
“Coming to this country with my dad was the best decision of my life. I love Greece and miss my family there since we do not get to visit each other often enough but America is a great country. Immigrants should be welcome here but they need to follow the rules like I did, like my parents and other family members did,” Bill said.
(There is much more to my dad’s story that will be included in a book I am writing about my experience growing up with a Greek father and a southern-born mother, yes, that is where my brother got his name for this stand-up comedy, the Greek Hillbilly).
My notes:
I cannot imagine how hard it was for my dad, as a teenager, to leave the only home he had ever known, along with his younger two siblings and their mother, my Yai Yai. Just think of the sacrifice she made in being away from her husband and son for two years before they could afford for her, my Aunt Effie and Uncle Tom to come to the United States. These are the same sacrifices all immigrants make and the refugees, they are not only running to a better life, they are running from violence and horror in their own country with their babies in their arms. As a mother and Nana, I cannot imagine what their lives must be like and neither can you. I would hope if we are ever under siege, other countries would welcome us and our children.
My dad is a respected, well-liked member of the Bucyrus community and a great citizen of this country. Many illegal immigrants came to the United States legally but for whatever reason, have not been able to take the test and become citizens. We should work with them because they help our economy and just think how boring our country would be if everyone was of the same race, religion, ethnic group and sexual orientation. Our country is the melting pot for all nationalities and should continue to be. This is what makes our country special.
As you can see, my dad was a Greek Orthodox yet he compromised with his new, Baptist-raised wife, my mother, to become a member of a Lutheran Church. There is no reason for us to exclude any race of people or religious group from our country based on the horrible acts of a few. Like the Bucyrus residents eventually embraced my dad’s delicious Greek food, we can embrace the people who are different from us because when it comes down to it, we are all more the same than we are different.
