Thespina’s Story, Part 2

**The Antjas Family in America**

Greek Easter on April 20, 1952, in Marion, Ohio. By then, the Antjas family had lived in America for nearly a year.

*(Kneeling) Pauline Photos, Evgenia Yianicos, Tom Photos, Thespina Antjas, Voula Antjas, Sophia Antjas holding seven-month-old Loukas Photos, Peter (Taki) Antjas.*

Thespina Antjas at Harding High School (Marion, Ohio) during her junior year, 1955.

This photo of Papou Riga, Yiayia Sophia, Thespina, and Taki was taken shortly before the family left Greece to be reunited with Voula and Georgia in America.

If you haven’t read “The Antjas Family in Stemnitsa, Thespina’s Story: Part One,” check out the synopsis.

Part 1 of Thespina’s story covers her youth in rural Greece up to the moment she arrives at a new home in America where she and her Papou Riga, Yiayia Sophia, and her brothers, Taki and Anthony, are reunited with Voula and Georgia, her sisters.

Part 1 begins with background details about Thespina’s parents, her earliest memory, her relationship with her brother Taki, and her love of learning. It also talks of the bounties of the Greek countryside, the horrors of the German occupation during World War II, and how male and female Greek resistance fighters undermined the efforts of the Nazis to rule the country.

Part 1 concludes with the story of the Fousianis, Photos, and Skevos families of Toledo and Marion, Ohio, and how they were instrumental in getting the second half of the Antjas family on a ship from Greece to America. It started in 1911 when Loukas Fousianis emigrated from Greece. It includes restaurant start-ups, properties bought, bar ownership, and the marriage of Voula and Georgia to two World War II veterans, John Photos and Andrew Skevos. Part 1 ends with details of the Antjas family’s Atlantic Ocean crossing with the help of Voula’s husband, John Photos. He would help the Antjas family complete their 16-day trek aboard the Neo Hellas (New Greece).

**From the Marion Star, December 13, 1951.**

"Two sisters and a brother, natives of Athens, Greece attend the class. Thespina Antja, 14, is the youngest of the three and is enrolled in the seventh grade at Edison Jurion High School. Her sister, Mrs. Voula Photos, came to Marion four years ago. The parents are Mr. and Mrs. John Antja, brother Anthony and Thespina, came to Marion six months ago from Greece. "
"Fourteen-year-old Thespina Antja is the youngest student in the class. She is shown copying the underline of a picture in the classroom before the start of class."
**Note: The *Marion Star* misspelled the Antjas family name and incorrectly noted that they had emigrated from Athens rather than Stemnitsa, Greece.**

Settling in Marion, Ohio

The Antjas family—Riga, Sophia, Anthony, Thespina, and Taki—took up residence at 657 Windsor Street, a house owned by my father's uncle, Loukas Fousianis, and his wife, Fotoula, Sophia Antjas's sister. Andreas and Georgia Skevos were already residing in the Windsor house with their newborn son, Nick.

Loukas, Fotoula, John, and Voula Photos lived at 535 Summit Street with their sons Tom and Louka. Within a few years, Andreas and Georgia, as well as Anthony and Kostoula, purchased their own homes. Loukas and Fotoula had moved to Tampa, Florida. The house at 535 Summit Street remained with the Photos family.

**The Early 1950s: A Time of Celebration**

Dancing gather at the house on Summit Street in Marion. How many people could squeeze into one living room is incredible!
Shown are Fotoula Fousianis, John and Voula Photos, Andy and Georgia Skevos, and (in the lower left) Uncle Andy's sister, Patty, and Steve Bomas.

Going to Work

Not long after the Antjas family arrived in America, Anthony found a job in maintenance at Fairfield Engineering. John Photos helped Riga get a job on the Erie Railroad. Anthony and Riga would work at the Acme Bar & Grill within a few years. Indeed, the Acme became a family bar; seven extended family members have worked there over the years.

Loukas Fousianis in the rear parking lot of the Acme Grill. Loukas, my father's uncle, purchased the property in the late 1930s. It had previously been the location of Kerrigan’s Dry Cleaners.

When Toledoan Thomas Photos died suddenly in 1938, he left a widow with seven children, all attending elementary or secondary school. Standing here behind Acme’s bar, John Photos, the oldest male child, dropped out of school after 10th grade and moved to Marion to work as a fry cook for his uncle, Louis Fousianis, at the Acme. His brother, Nick Photos, came to Marion to work at the Acme during summer break.
John enlisted in the army in the spring of 1943 during World War II. After the war, John returned to Marion with his wife, Voula, in 1947. He managed the Acme until 1956.

After serving during World War II, **Andreas Skevos,** (standing behind Acme’s bar) married Georgia Antjas, Voula’s sister, in Toledo, Ohio. The couple moved to Marion in 1949. After working at the Acme for several years, Andy managed restaurants for Mike Nicolosi. Later, he owned and operated the Burger Chef franchise in Marion.

Anthony Antjas took ownership of the Acme in 1956 and operated the bar and grill for over 35 years. Anthony married Constantina “Kostoula” Gianicos on June 26, 1960,

Riga Antjas also worked at the bar but he mostly sat at the last booth in the Acme, regaling listeners with stories. The youngest member of the family, Taki (shown here with his father, Riga) helped clean up. Taki’s best friend, Peter Kakaletris, remembers, “When the Acme got busy, Anthony would tell Taki to help. But Anthony never asked me to help. He considered me as a guest, and guests shouldn’t help.”

Pictured below are Taki with my mother, Voula, Louka, and me. Taki, or as he came to be called, Uncle Pete was the big brother I never had. He took me to movies and bike rides. On one ride, my foot caught on the spokes and we tumbled into the street. Pete was blamed by the adults and was rightfully angry with me. I thought I had lost my big brother. “Please like me again,” I pleaded. Eventually, he did.

Work and School

Not long after the Antjas family arrived in America, Thespina worked at the State Theatre in the 200 block of West Center Street. “I did whatever was needed,” Thespina recalls, I worked the ticket window, sold popcorn and candy, cleaned the toilets.” Charles Settos was the theatre’s owner. His daughter, Helen worked at the theater as well.

Early on, Thespina had spent most of her earnings on dictionaries and literature to help her with the intricacies of the English language. Within a year, she decided she would attend college. Thespina signed up for Harding’s College Preparatory classes. She also took business courses, including shorthand, typing, and dictation. Those skills helped her find jobs in Marion as she prepared for college.

Inside Marion’s compressor manufacturing facility at the Tecumseh Products Company, Thespina operated the teletype machine, which allowed typed messages to be communicated over the telephone.

At the Jay H Maish Advertising Company, Thespina stuffed envelopes and took dictation in shorthand. She also worked part-time at Baker’s Shoe Store and Woolworth’s.

School Days

The Antjas family arrived in Marion in May 1951—too late for Thespina and Taki to start the school year. To get acclimated to American schools, Thespina and Taki sat in on fifth-grade classes at Edison for two months.

Thespina recalls, "I knew very little English, only those words Antonis had passed on to me." When Thespina started attending school, she wrote down every word the teacher had written on the chalkboard. "When I got home, I searched the words in Divry's English-Greek and Greek-English dictionary. I still have that copy."

Thespina was eager to start her first whole school year in 1952-53 but was disappointed that she was assigned to seventh grade. She had worked hard to learn English, and now she redoubled her efforts. She read novels in English and studied American history and the English language. Her efforts succeeded. At the end of the school year, Thespina learned she would skip eighth and ninth grades and join the sophomore class at Harding High in 1953-1954.

Best Friends

While walking to Edison Junior High early in the school year, Thespina encountered another student, Mary Lou Rank. The two became fast friends. They talked about school, boys, movies, music. Mary Lou was an eighth-grader, so the two didn’t share any classes.

“Mary Lou was a wonderful friend. We habitually passed notes back and forth,” Thespina remembers, “until Mary Lou stopped it.” Thespina began to overcome her reluctance to speak out in class. Still, there were some funny episodes. In announcing the “Harding’s “Quiver” yearbook over the school’s loudspeaker, Thespina pronounced it KWEEV-air.

The Antjas Family in America

Thespina’s Story, Part 2

The Antjas Family in Stemnitsa

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