[Congressional Record Volume 145, Number 55 (Wednesday, April 21, 1999)]
[Extensions of Remarks]
[Pages E721-E722]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
GIFTS FROM TWO FATHERS
______
HON. JOHN J. DUNCAN, JR.
of tennessee
in the house of representatives
Wednesday, April 21, 1999
Mr. DUNCAN. Mr. Speaker, some of the finest and most patriotic people
that we have in this Nation today are naturalized citizens who came
from other countries.
This is true in Knoxville, TN where we have many leading citizens who
have come from other nations.
We have a exceptional strong Greek Community and one of the finest of
that group is a man named George Consin.
He and other members of the Knoxville Greek Community have
contributed in too many ways to list at this time, however, the
Knoxville News Sentinel recently published an article telling the story
of how Mr. Consin and his wife, Mary, adopted a small boy from Greece
many years ago.
This is a touching human interest story that I would like to call to
the attention of my fellow Members and other readers of the
Congressional Record.
[From the Knoxville News-Sentinel, Apr. 11, 1999]
Gifts From Two Fathers
(By Kristi L. Nelson)
In 1958, in the small town of Volos, Greece, the young wife
of 27-year-old Soterios Kalliakoudas gave birth to a boy,
their first child. The mother died of complications a few
weeks after the birth, and Kalliakoudas, a shepherd and
himself the oldest of six children, didn't feel he could
raise the boy himself or burden his parents with another
child. After the baby was christened--the mother's dying
wish--he was placed with a foster family in Greece and put up
for adoption.
About a year later, Kalliakoudas married his second wife,
Meropi.
After learning her husband had a son, she told him, ``You
go and find that baby. I will raise him as my own.'' The
family gathered at the Kalliakoudas' home to welcome George,
who was named, in the Greek tradition, after his paternal
grandfather.
But Kalliakoudas returned home empty-handed to face the
disappointed family. Upon arriving at the foster home, he was
told George had already been adopted and taken
[[Page E722]]
to America. Afterward he always spoke with regret of losing
his first son and told people he had four children, including
the son who had gone to America.
Soterios and Meropi had two sons--the first again named
George in Greek tradition and the second named Dimitri--and a
daughter, Viriana. As they grew, they would see men in town
who resembled them and wonder if the mystery brother might
not be in America after all. As adults, they made an
unsuccessful attempt to locate George in America.
``They knew I was in the United States, but the United
States is a very big place,'' Consin Jr. said. ``They didn't
know where to look.''
George and Mary Consin Sr. were born in Greece but met in
America. George Sr. came to America with his family in 1933.
Mary came to America in 1946, after World War II. After
marrying, the couple tried for a decade--without success--to
bear a child.
A relative who was a congressman in Athens, Greece,
arranged for the Consins to adopt 20-month-old George.
Although American adoption agencies considered George Sr. and
Mary old to be adoptive parents, Greek adoption agencies
preferred older couples, whom they considered more stable.
The Consins were thrilled, but a trip to Greece would be
expensive. They asked for help from longtime family friends
Jim and Jenny Peroulas, who were planning a family vacation
to Greece with their children, Maria and Johnny.
``They were very close friends,'' said Jim Peroulas, former
owner of a Market Square restaurant and now a bailiff for
Sessions Judge Brenda Waggoner. ``They were depending on us
to bring the baby up here.''
The Peroulases picked up the boy and kept him with them in
Greece for a few weeks before boarding a 12 hour flight to
the United States. The Peroulases then stayed with the
Consins for a few days, until George Jr. was used to his new
home.
``He was a very nice boy,'' Jim Peroulas said. ``They took
care of the boy and brought him up right. They told him that
and was involved in (the adoption), and George asked me
several times to tell him those tales.''
George Jr. grew up in Knoxville, fully aware that the was
adopted. ``It was never an issue or a secret,'' he said,
Being an only child, he was ``spoiled rotten,'' he said.
His parents, like many other Greeks, emphasized the
importance of family, hospitality and church. George Jr. grew
up close to aunts, uncles and cousins as well as the extended
``family'' of St. George Greek Orthodox Church, where he was
an altar boy and attended church school. In public school, he
learned English.
As a child, George Jr. Was regaled with his father's
stories of a childhood in Greece and his mother's stories of
Greece during the war. Though he was interested in the Greek
culture, growing up in America suited George Jr. fine.
``I'm sure that I was afforded opportunities I wouldn't
have had there,'' he said.
When he was 20, George Jr. met 17-year-old Angela Barkas on
a vacation in Myrtle Beach, where her father owned a
restaurant. Twelve years ago--after his graduation from the
University of Tennessee and her graduation from the
University of North Carolina at Greensboro--they were
married. Now George Jr. is vice president of retail sales at
First American National Bank and Angela's an interior
designer. They have two sons--Alex, 8, and Nicholas, 6.
George Jr.'s parents told Angela of his background, and
from time to time the couple would discuss the possibility of
finding his birth father.
``Because he was adopted in Greece, it wasn't like we ever
thought a reunion would be possible.'' Angela said ``It's so
far away, and there's the language barrier. * * * We never
thought it would happen.''
In April 1997, a Greek delegation from Larissa, Greece--
about 45 minutes from George Jr's birthplace in Volos--
visited Knoxville. After reading about the delegation's
journey in the News-Sentinel, George Sr. approached someone
in the group about trying to locate George Jr's birth father,
whose last name and first initial he had on a document.
George Sr. wasn't sure the other man still lived in Volos, or
whether he was even still living, but an attorney in Greece
helped him locate the Kalliakoudas family.
In October 1997, George Sr. made a phone call to Volov and
spoke with Meropi, who told him Soterios had his vocal cords
removed as a result of throat cancer and could not speak on
the phone. Meropi and Soterios immediately sent letters to
George Sr., while George, Dimitri and Viriana each sent
family photograph with information written on the back.
They were overjoyed to have finally found the ``other
brother.''
George Jr. was at work one day when he got a phone call
from George Sr., now, 78 and working is the 78 and working in
the Knox County property assessors office. ``I've got
something for you'' he told him. ``Can you come down to my
office?''
The elder Consin presented his son the envelope of letters
and photographs. ``He wanted to give me this opportunity
while he was still alive,'' George Jr. said. ``He was
awaiting for the right time.''
He took the envelope home to Angela. Together they pored
over the first letter which took George Jr. two hours to read
because his knowledge of the Greek language was rusty. That
weekend, apprehensive of the language barrier, they placed a
long-distance call to Viriana.
``We didn't want to shock his father, and we knew he
couldn't speak,'' Angela said.
The phone call cost $80--and countless tears of joy.
``We started getting calls from Greece almost immediately--
aunts, uncles, cousins and siblings,'' said George Jr., who
said Soterios at first was afraid his son would be angry at
him for giving him up. George Jr. quickly made it clear that
wasn't the case and now talks to his Greek relatives at least
twice a month.
The Consins had been saving money for living room furniture
and a family trip to Disney World. ``George came in and said,
`Forget the furniture! Forget Disney! We're going to
Greece!''' Angela said.
In May 1998, the couple went, taking along their sons to
meet a ``new'' grandfather. About 30 relatives met them at
the airport. ``We were all crying,'' Angela said. ``It was
very exciting.''
The Consins stayed in Greece for three weeks. ``It was very
comfortable,'' George said. ``It was like we had known them
all our lives.''
Because both George Jr. and Angela had grown up only
children, their sons met their only first cousins. Four of
Soterios' five brothers as well as all their children and
their families lived within three blocks of Soterios and
Meropi. ``My children didn't speak Greek, and the cousins
didn't speak English, but they played together all the
time.'' Angela said.
Nor did his inability to speak English keep Soterios from
bonding with his new grandsons. ``He spent a lot of time with
(Alex and Nicholas), taking them for walks and out for ice
cream,'' George Jr. said. ``If they were doing something
wrong, he'd whistle to let them know.''
George Jr. got to meet his own paternal grandparents, now
in their 90s, as well as his godfather--who was present at
his christening--and countless other relatives. ``We probably
met 100 people while we were there,'' Angela said.
Moreover, Meropi tracked down the family of George's
biological mother--of whom she was a friend--and invited them
over for a meal, an unselfish gesture that stunned the
Consins.
``Here she was, the second wife, having to deal with the
first wife's child,'' Angela said, ``and she invited the
first wife's sister over for lunch, having her there in the
house crying over the dead wife's picture. She was so
gracious.''
This meeting with the mother's sister led to a trip to her
house in Trikala, an hour-and-a-half drive from Volos. Three
of George Jr.'s mother's four sisters and their families--
about 30 people in all--attended a luncheon to welcome the
newfound relatives. Again, the Consins were overwhelmed by
hospitality.
``They slaughtered a pig for us,'' Angela said. ``They even
made their own feta cheese--they even made their own wine!
Even the salad we ate was from their own garden.''
The Consins were ``treated like kings and queens''
throughout their stay, they said. They would admire an object
in town, only to find it on their bed the next day. They had
to buy two extra suitcases in Greece to bring home all their
gifts.
The Consins also brought American gifts for their new Greek
family--perfume for the women, jewelry for the girls, Beanie
Babies and Legos for the children. But it was a gift sent the
previous Christmas that was most precious to Soterios and
Meropi.
Angela had made the Kalliakoudases a photo album of George
growing up, using two photographs from each year of his life,
and had a friend fluent in Greek write captions underneath.
She ended the photo album with photos of Alex and Nicholas
and left blank pages for future pictures of the family's
times together.
``When we went to visit, that album was on their coffee
table with the photo albums of the other children,'' Angela
said. ``Meropi said (Soterios) showed it to everyone who came
over.''
They hope to fill the album to overflowing. George Jr. will
leave for another trip to Greece later this month--Angela and
the children will join him for another trip next year--and
the Consins hope their Greek relatives will be able to visit
them in America.
George Jr. said his adoptive parents and newfound
biological parents get along well. Meropi calls George and
Mary Consin, he said, and the Kalliakoudases always ask about
the Consins and refer to them to George Jr. as ``your
parents.''
And they all realize their debt to George Consin Sr., who
gave his son a second father--and Soterios back his son.
____________________