10/04/2022
I love it!!
This photograph is of the first graduating class of the Sunday School of Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Church taken in June 1964. If you recognize anyone in the picture, please tag them. Below, Peggy Mockler shares her memories about how Sunday School at Holy Cross started and pays tribute to the many people whose efforts made it possible. Thank you, Peggy, for helping us chronicle the history of our Community.
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With summer holidays now behind us, Sunday School classes will start up again this Sunday. Seeing the notice for Sunday School registration brings back memories from years past, actually decades, of being a student and then Sunday School teacher here at Holy Cross.
We used to attend church in Greektown and also the Romanian Orthodox Church on Tecumseh Road. Before we had Holy Cross, many families attended church in Detroit or one of the Orthodox ones in Windsor. Our priest came on Sundays from Detroit (it wasn't until 1967 that we were able to have a full clergy). My father, Mitch Manolakos, worked at the Elmwood Casino as a bartender which made it difficult to go to Detroit every Sunday so, when it came time to start Sunday School, I attended the Romanian church.
I remember that I looked forward to Communion because after the liturgy finished, in the basement of St. George's, there were glasses full of red wine and everyone would have a glass. The glasses were probably shot glasses, but the wine was delicious! When Sunday School was started here at Holy Cross, after Communion we were given milk and individual pint-sized homemade Tsoureki braids! My mom, Stavroula, made the tsourekia and used to tell me and later my brother, we were lucky to be fasting because the oven was busy baking.
Sunday School started here because one yiayia became terribly upset when her grandson attended Sunday School with a Serbian neighbour. Dean Kouvelas would tell Yiayia, Ioanna Karrys, what he had learned about the Orthodox religion and everything was fine until the day he recited the Paterimon in Serbian. She was having none of that!
Mrs. Karrys approached Pater Stathis and the two of them conspired. Pater was a gentle man who had his daughter Nina round up materials from Detroit with the help of Mrs. Bills of St. Constantine and St. Helen from Detroit. Then one Sunday, during Church, he quietly approached Mrs. Jean Kouvelas who was sitting with her daughter, Georgene, and Mrs. Pauline Riddell and her two little girls and told her to take the girls and go upstairs where she would find some books that she was to use. A very young, 14 year old, Jennifer Evans now Vrionis was recruited to help until she had to take over the choir. The books were Sunday School books and thus started Sunday School. Dean learned the Lord's Prayer in Greek and served as an altar boy for many years after. There were many wonderful volunteers who came forward and helped with Sunday School and that continues today.
The following is an excerpt of Mrs. Kouvelas' memories from that time.
''…. There were eight children in all. As attendance increased, more books were needed which were given to us by Mrs. Alice Bills from St. Constantine and Helen Church in Detroit. We had more volunteer helpers come forward, Vivian Pann, Vicki Lutwick and Dorothy (Karsavvas) Papadimtriou. We successfully translated Greek text to English phonetics so the Canadian-born Greek children, who could speak and understand the language but could not read it, would be able to recite their prayers in Greek. As the years went by, more volunteers came forward to help: Mrs. Lena Poulias, Mrs. Joan Lukos, Mrs. Koutros to name a few and the list has expanded. Pater Stathis would travel every Sunday from From Detroit's Assumption Church to be with us and proudly awarded Sunday School Diplomas in June 1964 to the first graduating class.
When Pater could no longer drive to Windsor for services, we were blessed to have the Rev. Father Peter Vasilisdis and Presbytera join us. They established and taught a well-attended Greek language school. The community had grown as did both Sunday School and Greek School.”
