Paternal Relatives

Paternal Grandparents: Christos and Marietta Moussou

 I don’t know much about my Grandfather on my Father’s side other than he apparently had a bad temper. My Grandmother’s family immigrated to Romania from the Greek island of Corfu.

The picture with my Grandmother is from when she came to visit us when we lived in Italy and I was about 7 years old. 

I clearly remember the day we went to pick her up from the airport. First, we woke up to the smell of smoke as a building across the street from ours had caught fire. Then we heard that one of our friends had been run over on his bicycle and later, we had an accident in the taxi we were traveling on the way to the airport. I was a bit afraid of her as I thought she brought bad luck with her. 

I also have a clear picture imprinted on my my memory of her brother, George. Many years later, when I was living in Greece, I remember seeing him sitting on a bench in a park, talking to his wife, Evanthia. They were both in their 90’s and looked like two teenagers in love. Her long white hair cascaded on her back and he was talking to her in a loving voice, twirling a flower in his hand. She was totally blind and he was senile and they each complemented and helped each other. It was a very touching scene.

Paternal Uncle and Cousins

Uncle Billy (Vassilis Moussou) left Romania and immigrated to the United States and later retired in Greece. He was quite a character. He retired well into his 80’s saying that he retired in order to give 4 young men a chance to work. According to him, it took 4 people to replace him. 

Picture of cousin Gege (George Moussou) is from a movie where he played the villain, Asault on Agathon. Cousin Paris served in the army in Germany with Elvis Presley. 

My Dad’s sister, Aunt Gaia (Aglaia) was apparently a very beautiful woman who had several suitors and the story goes that one of them commited suicide because she did not accept his courtship.