George Kalogridis Coming to America

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Time passes...memories fade...until all that remains is the story...

George Kalogridis was born around the turn of the 20th century on the island of Halki near Rhodes, Greece. Born to peasant stock there was nothing unusual about his life but the journey he undertook in order to preserve his family changed the lives of his family and of the generations that came after him. His father Costas traveled to America and settled in Tarpon Springs, Florida to work as a cook on a sponge boat. Unfortunately much of his earnings remained on the poker tables in the coffee houses in Tarpon to the distress of his family back home in Halki. Labeled graciously as a “rogue” the family’s only chance of survival was to send young George then only a teenager to Tarpon Springs to work with his father and send money home to support the family. In 1917 young George boarded a cargo ship bound for America. The voyage usually took about a week to cross the Atlantic Ocean however with World War One raging in Europe German U-boats roamed the open seas looking to sink any freighter that may be supplying allied forces. George spent 43 days at sea in the hold of a cargo ship seasick every day of his journey traveling along the coast of Europe, Greenland and Nova Scotia through the frigid waters of the North Atlantic and finally to America. There young George was processed through Ellis Island and then disappeared into the boroughs of New York City. Working as a janitor George saved enough money for a train ticket to Tarpon Springs to join his father. Upon arriving in Tarpon George remarked that after such a long and dangerous journey he arrived in the same place that he left as Tarpon Springs was inhabited by spongers from the islands of Halki and Kalymnos and known by the locals as “Greek Town” as Greek was the spoken language of commerce.

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As many Greeks would welcome this home away from home George lamented that he wanted to experience America and set out to find work outside of Tarpon Springs. Costas his father would remain in Tarpon Springs for many years where he spent his days discussing politics with his fellow Greeks in the local coffee shops. Known for wearing a red fez and smoking a water pipe “Costa” would play his last hand in Tarpon as he fell across a poker table dying of a heart attack. George eventually found work on the railroad working for the Zembellous brothers building and maintaining rail lines from the North Florida town of Jay down through the interior of the state to the west coast in Bradenton. Tony Zembellous considered the entrepreneur of the family bought property and opened a small grocery store in Winter Haven in 1921 along the rail line in this small isolated community of 400 people. George’s first experience upon arriving in Winter Haven was watching giant old growth cypress logs being loaded 3 logs to a railcar using teams of oxen. Later they would purchase property in Bradenton at the rail head and opened the Seminole Restaurant. As business seemed to be going well the Zembellous brothers sent for their sister Evangeline from their home island of Kalymnos to help maintain the household. Impressed with George’s good character and strong work ethic a marriage was arranged for them which lasted sixty five years. The Florida land boom came to an abrupt end in 1925 sending real estate prices falling and bank notes spiraling past due. As English was the not the first language of the Zembellous brothers the local bank was all too eager to foreclose on their property and the bank building remains to this day on the city block that once was the Seminole Restaurant property. Having lost their new business and survived the devastating effects of a hurricane in Bradenton George and his extended family traveled inland into the interior back to Winter Haven to operate their grocery store across from the depot.

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From this new beginning George acquired six storefronts over time along the same city block becoming a commercial property owner along with owning his own home. This is where George Kalogridis and his young family would settle and live out the entirety of their lives raising four sons who would all marry and also remain in Winter Haven. Fifteen of George’s grandchildren all grew up in Winter Haven and four still call Winter Haven their home. From the day George Kalogridis set foot in America he sent money home to his family faithfully every month all the days of his life. Even after his death his estate sent money home to his surviving brother Paul for the next ten years until he passed. George returned home to Halki only once in 1956 and would never see his home island again. He would remark many times how beautiful his island was but that unfortunately “you could not eat it” meaning that there was no economic opportunity to better one’s life and provide for their family. George was proud of his Greek heritage refusing to shorten his last name but eagerly embracing his American citizenship becoming known by his Greek compatriots as the “Americanee”. This ridicule he willingly endured so that the generations that would follow after him would all be called “Americans”. As a young Greek boy George was taught to read and write by his uncle who was the cantor on the islands Greek Church. As a young American man he taught himself English, registered to vote, ran his own business, drove his own car, sold Christmas trees for the local service club and wrote his own poetry. George honored the Greek Orthodox feast days, made his own wine, grew avocados and germinated cypress tree seeds from his home island of Halki and planted them in his American backyard.

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George who like so many immigrants from simple beginnings made an extraordinary journey across land and sea but also across time and culture to forever change their lives, their families’ destiny as well as collectively the history of the world. Born into middle age culture on the isolated island of Halki their only transportation was by sail or donkey and the only known foreign visitor being a British merchant marine named Murphy who they rescued from the sea. However in his later years George would watch his fellow American walk on the moon. George grew up in a house the size of an average American kitchen and slept on the roof at night with his 3 siblings. Even though their dwelling was very small the Kalogridis family built a small family chapel on the island which remains under family ownership unto this day. The families Greek Orthodox faith as well as their Greek customs and traditions enabled them to survive famine, poverty and pestilence throughout the generations. These hardships produced within them a tenacious desire to survive under unimaginable circumstances. Prior to the introduction of the automobile the vast majority of the people in the world lived out their entire lives within fifty miles of their birthplace. This isolation created diverse local customs but unfortunately also gave rise to racial prejudice to which George and his family were not overlooked. In George’s time it was not fashionable to be different so he developed a balance between the social norms of his day and his ethnicity as a Greek American citizen. Differences in language and customs as well as dark hair and a swarthy skin complexion presented its own challenges for George and his family in their new country. This gave rise to the saying “American outside the house and Greek inside the house.” Nevertheless George and his family overcame these social obstacles overtime the same way they overcame the economic devastation of the Great Depression by hard work and perseverance eventually earning the respect of their new American neighbors.

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I remember as a child Mr. Eloy Delgado who served the community as Justice of the Peace told me on many occasions that he would walk by the store and see Mr. George standing in the back of the store with elbows on the counter and head in his hands taking a quick nap between customers as 16 hour work days were a common occurrence back in those times. George Kalogridis passed away in 1983 and was eulogized at his funeral by his Greek Orthodox priest as the one who by his hard work and upright character gave honor to his family among his community to which all his family remain his beneficiaries. Buried in Oaklawn Cemetery in Winter Haven the funeral procession to his final resting place was over a half mile long reaffirming the respect George earned over the many years of his life in his adopted country. To remember the life and sacrifice made by George Kalogridis and others like him no memorials are necessary, no honoring event required. All that is requested from our fathers that came before us is that we simply... never forget.

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“Gather together all that you have earned subtract the pants you had on when

you started and there’s your profit”

-Mr. George.