Special thanks also must go to Mrs. George P. Brown, who served as assistant to your General Chairman and to Mrs. Peter Kanatas, a most efficient secretary; also to the chairman and co-chairman of the main committees and to each member of the committees; to the Men's Executive Committee for their help and understanding during the process of compiling the history; and to each member of the Community who, in any way, contributed to the success of this effort. An extra word of praise goes to Mrs. Tom Saris for her unselfish devotion in this effort in reading all those difficult Greek minutes and translating them into English, and Mrs. George Lias for doing the same with the English minutes. This was a long and tedious task.

We hope this history will give the reader many moments of pleasure and recall the wonderful past and if there are any omissions or errors we deeply regret it and repeat that they were unintentional.

Mary Chakeres Jameson (Mrs. George M. ) General Chairman of Women's Committees

The History

Toward the end of the 19th century large groups of Greek immigrants left their homeland to seek a more secure life in the United States. After establishing themselves in a certain area they began thinking in terms of their common bond — religion — and of their need of a church.

Facilities for a church being unavailable, services
were held in temporary quarters whenever the "itinerant priest" came to town. One such service took place on Monday January 22, 1906, when Columbus witnessed its first Greek wedding. Miss Christina Freemas became the bride of John J. Roumeliote of Terre Haute, Indiana. The Reverend Ambrosios Mandilaris of Chicago, Illinois, one of the few Greek priests of America at that time, performed the ceremony in Hunt's Hall on North High Street.