For minor ailments many people re
member the help of a practical nurse.
Athanasia D'Fantis, or "Nionina" (the wife of
Dionesios), arrived with her husband and two
children in 1911. She would add five more
children to the family before being widowed
in 1918. She assumed the responsibility of
running a small kafeneion, while serving the
community in various other ways. She sometimes went to homes to give venduzes to people with upper respiratory problems.
Mike Chakeres remembered his
mother's summoning Nionina to the house
when Mike had a severe case of tonsillitis.
Nionina coated her finger with sugar and
rasped her finger over the tender tonsils to
break loose the infection. The pain was sear-
ing, but the practice worked. Mike wasn't
sure which hurt worse, the sore throat or one
of Nionina's "treatments", but the tonsillitis
cleared up.
Nionina married Jack Sardis, a barber,
in 1921. She had three more children and
continued to serve her community as an ex-
ample of the early immigrant woman who
learned about life simply by living it.
Nionina at the front door of the
kafeneion in the company of two employees
