LEVINE:

Today is the February the 20 th , 2002. I'm here in Cape Coral, Florida with Hope Hunter, who was born Alpeda Vaselu [PH], Vas —

HUNTER:

Va — Vasilio [PH].

LEVINE:

Vasilio.

HUNTER:

That's right.

LEVINE:

Vasilio, who came from Greece when she was 12 years of age in 1946. This is Janet Levine for the National Park Service, and I would like to have you start at the beginning by giving your birth date and where in Greece you were born.

HUNTER:

Okay. I was born in Michilini [PH] (it's an — it's an island of Lesvos [PH], Greece) on January 6 th , 1933, and we arrive here in the United States in December. I'm not sure of the date, the exact date, but in December because I remember celebrating my 13 birthday in the U.S.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, okay. And your name on the ship's manifest —

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

— was the name you were born with.

HUNTER:

Right.

LEVINE:

Right. Okay. Now, did you live in the same place up until you were 12 and you left for the United States?

HUNTER:

Right, the same place. I was born and I — I lived till we came here to the United States.

LEVINE:

Okay. And the — the town. Could you spell it for the tape?

HUNTER:

The town is — actually, we lived at — the city was Mytelene, which — M-Y-T-E-L-E-N-E. But we lived in a village, which was Moria, spell M-O-R-I-A. And — and that's — the whole island is Lesvos.

LEVINE:

Okay. Now, the village. H — w — h — was it very small?

HUNTER:

Very small village. We had, I would say, about a hundred families and everybody knew each other. And so it was very small.

LEVINE:

Yeah. When you think about your first 12 years there, what are the things that you — that you remember most in —

HUNTER:

Well, we went through the war. I remember — actually, my father came — my father was here in America when he was single. Him, his brothers, four brothers came here, opened restaurants. And they did very well. They made money, came back to Greece and they got marr — they became American citizens, by the way. That's one of the reasons we came back — we were allowed to come back. And when my father came back, naturally, he got married and with the money he had he bought a lot of olive groves. That was the main product of their island, of our island is olive — olive oil. Bought a lot of — and, of course, when he got married, in those years you got a dowry. So we got my mother's dowry also so they were very well to do there. As a matter of fact, my mother always had maids and we were very well to do. We — we had a very nice — I had a very nice childhood.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Then, finally, you know, the war broke down — broke and we suffer a little bit, but not so much because we had the olive oil and we used to exchange it with, like, beans, any kinds of beans and stuff. So we never really went hungry.

LEVINE:

I see.

HUNTER:

So —

LEVINE:

What was your father's name?

HUNTER:

Prokopis. It's —

LEVINE:

Spell that one.

HUNTER:

P-R-O-K-O-P-I-S.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Which in trans — in — his American name was Peter, actually, because there was no trans — translation to that.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. And where did he and his brothers open their restaurant?

HUNTER:

In Massachusetts.

LEVINE:

In Boston?

HUNTER:

In Boston, uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

H — how was it? Do you know the family story of why your father went to Boston with his — with his three brothers?

HUNTER:

Actually, I think they went to Boston because they had some friends in Boston that they knew. And they came and the friends helped them. Between them, they opened restaurants. Actually, the three brothers opened restaurants. One went — he became a shoemaker. And that's the only one that didn't go back to Greece. The other three went back to Greece.

LEVINE:

And stayed?

HUNTER:

And stayed.

LEVINE:

Except for your father came back.

HUNTER:

My father came back.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

So was — so do you think that was their plan? To come to this country, make some money and —

HUNTER:

My father was —

LEVINE:

— and return?

HUNTER:

Yes, my father — my father always liked the life in Greece because it was very easy for him. And so even when we came here as a family, he wanted some day to return back to Greece. He used to go every summer for vacation with my mother and us when we — before we got married. But then he passed away here.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, uh-huh. So when did your father first come to this country? Do you know?

HUNTER:

Ah, [sighs] no. I really don't know. He — he came when he was a young man, I would say, in the 1920s, somewhere around there.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Did he ever mention that he came through Ellis Island? Do you know?

HUNTER:

No, I don't. No, he never mentioned and, if he did, I don't remember it.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

I don't know.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah. So — so it was the one brother who became a shoemaker in this country —

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

— and stayed in this country doing that.

HUNTER:

He's the one that sponsor us to come back. Even though my father was American citizen, we still had to have a sponsor.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

So my uncle got — was — he sponsor us. And that's why we ended up in Ellis Island till he came to claim us.

LEVINE:

I see. I see. When you came back, were you traveling third class or steerage? Or were you traveling first or second class? Do you know?

HUNTER:

I think we were first class.

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

Or I'm not sure. I'm not sure of that. Again, I'm not sure.

LEVINE:

But you needed the sponsor. That's why you went to —

HUNTER:

Yes. We needed a sponsor. Yes.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, uh-huh. Okay. Well, so did you go to school at all when you — when you were in Greece?

HUNTER:

Yeah. I — yes, I did. As a matter of fact, I went up to the ninth grade when I was there. Yeah. And —

LEVINE:

What do you reme — how — how — can you compare the — the schooling that you had in Greece with the later schooling that you had in this country?

HUNTER:

This country. Oh, the school in Greece then, it was very strict, very, very strict. And that's the only thing I remember. And I didn't learn any English there and, of course, now, everybody's — you know, it's mandatory all — to take English. At that time, we didn't have any English so when I came here, the only thing I knew was to count one to ten. That's all I knew.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

HUNTER:

That's about it. Yeah.

LEVINE:

So what w — what was life — well, like, what — what kind of a house did you live in? What —

HUNTER:

Well, we had a nice house, which I go every couple years. We go and I visit it, a three-story house. It was very nice. The beginning — of course, at that time we didn't have — we had — we did have electricity. But we didn't have the facilities that they have now. We had an outhouse, for instance. And we had a barn in the back. We had our own goats that we used to milk and have — drink the milk. We had the donkeys, which was the main thing of transportation at that time, except buggies, that if we needed to go, like, to a hospital or the city, we would have to have, like, a horse and buggy or to go travel to another village or anything. But mostly, my father used to travel with a donkey.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

Yeah, I remember it very well. Yeah.

LEVINE:

And — and how about the town itself? Was it — were there — were there shops? W — was there a marketplace or —

HUNTER:

Ah, not really. They had — they had little shops. They had butcher shops at that time, no refrigeration. The — everything used to hang up, like my father used to have, like, something like a box with screens that we used to ha — hang the meat because we use it right away. But even the butcher shops, they used to hang the — the meat, hang it. And we had shops that they used to sell beans and stuff like that. And — and we used to have, like, pro shops that they used to sell threads and needles and — but wouldn't have no — no dress shops at that time. We had — we used to sell — they used to sell material too, have — we used to have seamstress. When — when needed to make something, we used to buy the material and this seamstress used to do it for us.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

So that's — yeah. And we didn't have washing machines, of course. We used to go down to the — the lake and wash our clothes in the — on the stones. And later on, my mother had some woman that used to come once a month. And they used to — do the big w — the big wash and it used to be two-day deal. They used to boil the water outside and have these big tanks for the — wash our clothes.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

So — and remember, used to have a coal stove in the house for warmth. But we used to cook outside —

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

— with the — the wooden fireplace we used to have.

LEVINE:

A wooden fireplace?

HUNTER:

A wooden fireplace.

LEVINE:

Huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Huh.

HUNTER:

We used to cook our main meals.

LEVINE:

And it was normally warm enough so that you could be outside at —

HUNTER:

It was warm enough. At that time, I remember, I think I would say the temperature never went down below 50 or 60 in the winter. And we had hot summers but very dry there. And the summers were hot but dry.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

And what did you do for recreation when you were little there?

HUNTER:

[sighs] Play with friends mostly. We did gymnastics. The main thing in our schools were gymnast — they were very big on gymnastics at that time and I remember doing gymnastic and play with friends and —

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

— make our own dolls. We used to make our own dolls. I — our own toys. You know, we didn't have a toy store that we can go buy our toys. So it's — it was interesting. It was a simple —

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

— simple life.

LEVINE:

And wh — like the dolls, what — what would you make them out of?

HUNTER:

We'd make 'em out of rags.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

Rags, yeah. And we'll make the faces with pencil and we'll save some of our hay and — and sort of put 'em in their heads. And it — it was fun. It was very simple but fun.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

And our activities is — you know, on Sundays my father and all the cousins used to get together and go to another village where we used to have music. And they had cafes outside and we would have ice cream and that was our — our activities in this — on Sundays and holidays.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

And how about on religion? Wa — was your family religious?

HUNTER:

Very. Greek Orthodox and like, again, the church was walking — away, walking distance away. And we follow all the services. And Easter time was the biggest, I remember, there, much more than —

LEVINE:

Can you describe what Easter time was like in —

HUNTER:

Easter time was like 4 — 40 days activities — [unclear] 40 days, which we still observe. We fast and my parents were very strict on that. We had to fast and go to church every week. And during Holy Week we'll go to church every night and on Fridays we have the — the — what do you call? What can I say? The — like the resurrections. The tomb of the Christ. We walked it all through the village and the choir would sing. And then on Saturday we'll have midnight services, which would be the resurrection. And we have it — we — we used to hold it outside because the weather was beautiful. And they used to have gun salutes that night and everything. And — and then after that they would take — on midnight. Then after that, we'll go home and my father use — usually make the soup with the lamb, the lamb soup and that was the tradition to have lamb soup after midnight services. And then Sunday again, we'll go to church and we paint eggs and very, very festive.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm, uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

Very festive, yeah.

LEVINE:

Was everyone in that little village Greek Orthodox?

HUNTER:

Yes, everyone.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Everyone, uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

So let's see. And h — is there anything else that you can think of that was a part of that world that wasn't true once you came to this country?

HUNTER:

[chuckles] The simple life, very simple, and we were happy with what we had.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

And sometimes I wonder when I go back and I says, you know — I mean if I was there, if I had never came to the States I wouldn't know any better so I would be happy like my friends are. Oh.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

'Cuz —

LEVINE:

Y — you maintain some friendships with people there?

HUNTER:

Yes, I do. Yeah, and I also have a lot of family there still 'cuz my aunts and uncles passed away now, but I have a lot of cousins. And in fact, we're going this summer. We — hoping to go this summer. One of my cousins is marrying, a son — his son is marrying so we're invited to the wedding.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

HUNTER:

So that's always good to go back to see them.

LEVINE:

Yeah. Let's see. I'm trying to think of any — any other — did — oh, what was your mother's name?

HUNTER:

H — you want her Greek name or American?

LEVINE:

Greek and then American.

HUNTER:

Vasiliki, which is spelled with a V-A-S-I-L-I-K-I. Vasiliki. It's Vessie [PH], actually.

LEVINE:

Vessie?

HUNTER:

She was called by Vessie when we came to the States. Yeah.

LEVINE:

And her maiden name?

HUNTER:

Theodorakis. You want me to spell it for you?

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

I have — I have to write on it — write [unclear]. Theodorakis. It's [unclear] Theodorakis.

LEVINE:

Okay. So that's T-H-E-O —

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

— D-O-R-A-K-I-S.

HUNTER:

I-S.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm. And how do you remember your mother as a li — when you were a little girl growing up in Greece? What kind of a temperament did she have? How would you describe —

HUNTER:

She was a very strict disciplinarian. [chuckles] She was the disciplinarian in the family. And she was, I would say, a loving mother. And like all the mothers there, she would stay home and take care of us and my father would be in the olive groves in the winter. And then in the summer they had these coffee houses. They had for — with — only men would go and all the women will stay home with the kids. And then in the evening they will stay in the front porch and they will embroidery or doing crochet and whatever. And we learned a lot from them. And we also had my grandmother that lived — at that time when a — a girl would get married the mother would give them the main house, which my mother had. And the grandmother would go to a [unclear] in-law, adjacent to that house. So we always had — felt like we had my grandmother with me, with us. And also —

LEVINE:

Was that your mother's mother?

HUNTER:

My mother's mother. I never knew my father's mother or — or her father — had passed away before I was born.

LEVINE:

What memories do you have of your grandmother?

HUNTER:

Oh, I had a lot of grand memories. [chuckles] She was — oh, her — very good to us. Whenever we wanted something special or special cookie or something, will go to her little apartment and she al — I remember her house always smelling food. She used to be a good cook and she also used to have a little farmhouse, was about — I would say about three miles away from our main house. And she had about — big farm that she used to grow everything, with my uncle's help at that time. And she had about three room little house in the summer. In the back of it it was a beautiful beach.

LEVINE:

Huh.

HUNTER:

And I would go and spend practically all my summers there. And I would look forward to going there because all my cousins would come and we used to get together. And we used to go swimming every day and it was — it was a lot of fun. She used to have also a lot of fruit trees in her farm. And we used to go pick our own peaches, plums, everything we want to.

LEVINE:

Wow.

HUNTER:

It was fun.

LEVINE:

Sounds like a Garden of Eden.

HUNTER:

It was a lot of fun.

LEVINE:

[chuckles] Sounds beautiful.

HUNTER:

Yes, it was a lot of fun. Yeah.

LEVINE:

So — so when you say she grew — she grew actually what she used for food, pretty much?

HUNTER:

For — and — and my uncles used to go out in the markets in the — in the city and sell them also.

LEVINE:

Oh. So it was large enough so that was —

HUNTER:

Yes.

LEVINE:

— en — enough to —

HUNTER:

Yes, a lot. Very large, yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. And what was she like? How would you describe your grandmother?

HUNTER:

She was also — Grand — I described — I — I remember her very little. She was a little old lady with a big bun in back of her head. And she was very kind and very loving to us when I was growing — yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, uh-huh.

HUNTER:

And we had a lot of fun with her.

LEVINE:

Oh. Now, you had brothers and sisters?

HUNTER:

No, just me and my sister. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, and —

HUNTER:

[unclear]. [telephone ringing]

LEVINE:

Whoops, we're going to pause here a minute.

HUNTER:

Yeah. [tape off/on]

LEVINE:

Resuming here.

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

Let's see. You were talking about [chuckles] — what were you talking about? You were talking about your grandmother —

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

— and the house.

HUNTER:

Yes.

LEVINE:

And the farm and your uncle selling some of what was produced.

HUNTER:

Some of the produce in the — in the city —

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Every day, they would pick up the produce and sell them in the city and so —

LEVINE:

Is it — maybe if you could talk a little bit about the traditional family — family ways. Was it like — you — you mentioned it — it was traditional for the grandmother to — to build —

HUNTER:

Right.

LEVINE:

— the little place for her to live.

HUNTER:

For her to live, yeah.

LEVINE:

And what about — I mean, was it trip — was it traditional for the wife to move in with the mother-in-law or —

HUNTER:

Ah —

LEVINE:

— were — were there any other traditional ways that you can think of?

HUNTER:

No, usually — no. No, it wasn't. I understand some parts of Greece it was traditional for the bride to — to move into the mother-in-law at the beginning, so for her to teach her, you know, her ways so she could take care of her son, but not in our part.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. How about the dowry? Is there anything you could say about that?

HUNTER:

The dowry at that time, yes. It was mandatory to have a dowry when a girl got married, to have a dowry. Very, very few cases that the girl didn't have a dowry. But mostly, the girls would have dowry, like, say, the — the parents of the girl didn't have enough money to build her a house. Sometimes, I — I saw couples engaged for 10 years waiting for their house to be built.

LEVINE:

Was that a typical dowry —

HUNTER:

Right.

LEVINE:

— gift? A house?

HUNTER:

A home.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

A home was, yeah, a typical — and — because you have to have your — how can I say — the dowry clothing and all that kind of thing. And so that's — that was — yeah, almost mandatory. Now, it's not as much but then it was.

LEVINE:

So everything from a home to clothing to, I suppose, furnishings? Or not?

HUNTER:

Not as much furnishing. Furnishing mostly would — the newlyweds would get together and buy it themselves. But just a house.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

And I — I know now — I have my uncle, that he owned a two-family home and he had two girls. He had to give the house to the two girls and — even though one girl moved away with her husband because of his occupation. He — they rented it and the son-in-law — the daughter would get the — the rents. And my uncle had to go and get himself another apartment to live in. So that was — yeah, which —

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

— you know, to us it doesn't sound that good but that's the way it is. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Now, when was —

HUNTER:

It was —

LEVINE:

— that? When did that —

HUNTER:

That was, I would say [unclear] — I would say — I was married in '54. They must have been married about in the '60s.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, uh-huh. Oh.

HUNTER:

The '60s, yeah.

LEVINE:

Hmm. So — and how about a wedding? Do you remember weddings when you were a little girl there?

HUNTER:

Yeah. Weddings were very simple, where I think it's a little more elaborate now. They were very simple. Usually, the bride and the entourage would walk to the church and meet the — the groom there and they would get married. And then again, they would march to the house, walking, and they would give everybody a favor of the — of the candy, the walnut candy there. And — and they will congratulate the bride and groom and go home. That was it. And now, they do have elaborate things.

LEVINE:

Well, when — what was the walnut candy? What was that like?

HUNTER:

That was the — that's the — they still have them now. They make favors with — the — the almond. The almond candy, the white almond candy, used to make favors with. That's what they — they used to have but didn't have any dinners or anything. And as I recall, the bride and groom will go, like, say, to the city or maybe to Athens, if they had the means, for a honeymoon. So —

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, uh-huh. Do you think — can you think of any things that your mother or father tried to instill in you that were of that — that Old Country —

HUNTER:

Hmm.

LEVINE:

— life?

HUNTER:

Yeah, my — my father always used to make — and we're talking about college and further education. And he would say, "Well, girls don't need that," because then we — "your thing is to think about, you know, finding a nice boy, getting married and settle down and have children." And that's my father's and mother's —

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

That was how my mother was grow — you know, brought up too.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

And she had like, you know, a simple education, grammar school education and — and just to make a home for your family.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Hmm.

LEVINE:

So your father came back and — and met your mother.

HUNTER:

Right.

LEVINE:

And — and had —

HUNTER:

They came back.

LEVINE:

— the olive groves —

HUNTER:

Right.

LEVINE:

— a — as a result of having earned money in —

HUNTER:

Earned money here.

LEVINE:

— in this country.

HUNTER:

Right, uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

And then did — when — after they were married, did they come then right away —

HUNTER:

Hmm —

LEVINE:

Oh, no. They didn't.

HUNTER:

No, we came together.

LEVINE:

[unclear]. Right.

HUNTER:

We all came together, right. Yeah.

LEVINE:

So what precipitated them coming to this country when they did?

HUNTER:

Well, I guess that when the war broke and we have the — and we — we had the civil war after that, then they said — after that, they said, "Well, whoever's an American citizen, they can return to America." And from my three — from the three brothers that were back there, one of them didn't have children so he didn't care to come back. One of them that had four children lost his American citizen — he didn't bother to renew it. My father, who did renew it, the only reason he came back is for us. He thought it would be a better opportunity for us here.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

And he says, "Now, we'll go and I'll have you girls go to school and whatever and we'll come back." As a matter of fact, he didn't even bother to rent his house or anything. He closed it with the furniture, left the olive groves with my uncles to take care of, and we came back. And every year he will — my uncles will get the crop and sell the olive oil and put the money in the bank for my father. Every — every year with my mother — he only would last a couple of years and would go back and would pay for our way back and for — and spend whatever money we had, because at that time we weren't allowed to take anything here, any money here. When we first came, the only money that we could take was in my mother's — what do you call it — bun and in her shoe and anything that she can bring back. And when we came here, my mother had maids there. She came here and she had to go to work, had to go to work in a factory.

LEVINE:

Now, why was it that you could not bring any money?

HUNTER:

At that time, you could not bring any money here. You could bring just enough for you to get here but not any more.

LEVINE:

And that's why you needed the sponsorship, I guess.

HUNTER:

Right, right. That's why we needed the sponsorship. That's right. And I guess that, after years they go — kept going back and forth, they finally sold the house. And then it took years. My father passed away and my mother still had the property there. And my cousins — by that time, my cousins were take care of them. And they were really — really taking her for a ride. So she finally decided to sell them and get whatever she could.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

So —

LEVINE:

Wow. What do you personally remember about World War II when you were there?

HUNTER:

Well, I remember when the Germans came and the — it was very, very tough time there. We had to have curfew. We had — anybody that had nice houses, the Germans would come in and take them over. They — they did come to our house. We had three Germans, two enlisted men and two — and one that was a colonel. And they were very good to us. We were young. Especially to my sister when she was a baby, they used to be very nice to her.

LEVINE:

But when you said they took over, wh — wh — like what would they do? Move in and —

HUNTER:

Move in.

LEVINE:

And then just take charge?

HUNTER:

That — well, they — they had the headquarters down the street and that's how they were — used to work out of the headquarters. And after they left, of course, we had the civil war there.

LEVINE:

And what did your — what do you remember about that?

HUNTER:

About the civil war, I — it was — it was — I remember very, very vague. I remember the civil war. I remember, again, you know, we used to have, like, a lot of people they used to kill. I remember when my uncle — they used to take — they took him and they murdered him because they found some papers. He was an American citizen and found some papers. He was — at that time, they said he was a Mason and I don't know what they found in his house. They — they actually killed him with — and chained him to death. And it w — it was tough. We had — I seen people — like I said, we didn't have much to eat. A lot of people went hungry. A lot of people were eating meat — horsemeat. And the only thing we survived with was, like I said, my aunt — my — my — my dad used to take the olive oil and take 'em to another village, just to exchange the beans and whatever we could need. So we never went hungry.

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

So —

LEVINE:

Was — was a — were any of the members of your family active in the —

HUNTER:

No.

LEVINE:

— in the —

HUNTER:

No.

LEVINE:

— the — the civil —

HUNTER:

No.

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Wow. So when you said your father wanted you to come to this country for opportunity, what in particular was —

HUNTER:

Schooling, mostly, even though he says, well, you know, college wasn't necessary. You know, he thought there was more opportunity for us here than there.

LEVINE:

Hmm. Was that because of the civil war or because of the war?

HUNTER:

Yeah, because of the war and because things in general — he — he knew what America was and he thought it would be better for us.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

But he only thought — he — eventually, I thought he would, you know, settle us here and go back someday but he never did.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, uh-huh. Do you remember packing up to leave to come to this country?

HUNTER:

Yeah. Like I said, we closed the house, furniture and everything. We just were — what we did is we pack our belongings, clothes. And I remember at that time there you don't need many heavy clothes. And I remember coming here in the winter and it was very, very cold. And whatever we had, my aunt went out and got us heavy coats and everything. So — and I remember, of course, December was cold here.

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

It was very cold. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Do — do you remember saying goodbye to people in the village?

HUNTER:

Oh, yeah. My — my — my friends. I really had missed my friends. My relatives, my cousins, and I remember writing every day to them for a while and crying in my sleep. I really missed my friends. But after a while it wore off.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm. [END OF TAPE 1, SIDE A] [BEGIN TAPE 1, SIDE B]

LEVINE:

So how about going to the port? You went to Piraeus?

HUNTER:

We went to Piraeus. We — from our island, we had to take the ferry, come to Piraeus. And from Piraeus we took big — the big boat, [unclear]. And I had met a lot of — of friends that I still kept frien — friendly with for many, many years that — that we both settle in Boston.

LEVINE:

You mean you met them on the boat?

HUNTER:

On the boat, from different pr — as — I remember my best friend was from Sparta. And she was my age and she had younger sisters and a brother. And we met in the boat and we became very good friends. Yeah.

LEVINE:

And what do you remember about the boat trip?

HUNTER:

Oh, I can remember. It was a beautiful boat. I remember we had a movie theater. The dining room, we — it was very nice. We had a — like a formal dining room. And I remember — I remember feeding the sharks, you know, and follow. Sharks would follow. This is a — it was a long, long trip. It was — I think it took us about 12 days —

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

— to get here, and very rough, rough weather.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

I remember people getting sick all over the place. But one thing I remember, I never got sick.

LEVINE:

Ah —

HUNTER:

Up to now, I don't get seasick.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, and it was the Volca — Volcania.

HUNTER:

Volcania. And I remember stopping at Palermo.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

That was our only stop. And I think we spent a day or so in Palermo.

LEVINE:

And did you take on more passengers there? Do you know?

HUNTER:

Yes, we did. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

And were, like, the — do — you met several people your age?

HUNTER:

Well, we met several people but the only people, like I said, that we settled together in Boston was this family, who was a mother and father. And that time, they had one, two, three girls and a boy. And we found out they were only — you know, all of us were going to Massachusetts, and were neighbors and —

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

And we went to school together and they became good friends.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Wow. Now, do you remember the boat coming into the New York harbor?

HUNTER:

Yes, I do. I — I remember it very, very cloudy, overcast and — and I could — as we approached the harbor you could see the outline of the Liberty. And the Statue of Liberty and it was just — was amazing sign, was — I mean, you couldn't see it clear because, I guess that it was overcast, but just the outline of it. You know, it was really thrilling, a thrilling time for us. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Hmm, hmm.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

And then you — what do you remember about Ellis Island?

HUNTER:

Ellis Island, I remember — I remember the examinations we went through.

LEVINE:

What — t — say whatever you can recall.

HUNTER:

Yeah. I remember — I remember them examining my head and my body and all that. And I remember p — some people they were putting aside, sending them in another building or back. I'm not so sure of that. And I remember having two big wards, like — like, the men would sleep and the boys would sleep in one ward. And the women and the babies and the girls would sleep in another one. I remember missing my father and every morning I would go look for him. And I remember eating in big halls, like — like — like a mess hall, eating. And I remember — I remember being in a balcony and — and they had Coke machines there. And that's the first —

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

— time we discover Coke machine. [chuckles] And our thing was to get coins and go and get Coke. And that's about th — I think we spent there — I — I'd say about three days. And my uncle picked — came and picked us up.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Now, who else was there in 1946? It — or who else — do you remember any other — besides people who were immigrating —

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

— to this country, do you remember if there were any military, any deportees, any —

HUNTER:

No, I don't remember any of them.

LEVINE:

Anything else?

HUNTER:

No, no. I remember doctors and nurses dressing, nurses' outfits with the caps and all. But I don't remember any military. No.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. Was it crowded when you were —

HUNTER:

Very crowded, yeah. Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

D — do you know if some of the people th — who were there were coming from concentration camps?

HUNTER:

No.

LEVINE:

Was that obvious to you?

HUNTER:

No.

LEVINE:

No, uh-huh.

HUNTER:

No. I don't recall.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh, yeah. So when you think of those three days at Ellis Island, how — how do you —

HUNTER:

I think —

LEVINE:

— remember them or —

HUNTER:

To me, at that time, it was like an adventure. Yeah, more like an adventure. I wasn't scared or anything because, like I said, nobody — none — none of us were rejected. We were all healthy. And it was more like an adventure, I would say, for me at my age, that time. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah. How about your mother and father or sister? Were the — did they — did they have any —

HUNTER:

No, they didn't complain.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

They just waited patiently till my uncle came. Yeah, uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

Did you know that uncle?

HUNTER:

Yes, because he had visited us at — in Greece a few times and brought my aunt to which wasn't Greek at that time. He had married a Irish woman, that she was — she was a maid and she — he was going to his shoe store. And they fell in love and got married and that time it was a no-no to marry outside your faith and your — I mean, your religion and so none of the brothers went to his wedding.

LEVINE:

Huh.

HUNTER:

But eventually, he brought her to Greece a couple of times and she was very nice, and they got to know her and, yeah, they became good friends.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah. And they didn't have no children. They lived in a — in a farm in Middle — Middle — Middletown —

LEVINE:

Mass —

HUNTER:

— Massachusetts.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

And that's where they brought us to live. And I remember my aunt wanted us to learn English. And she — she would say, "I don't want you speaking Greek to your mother. I want you to — as soon as you come home from school to go out and play." And it was very tough for us because — for me, because I was older. And the school was — I had to take a school bus and — and go to school. And although I was — by that time, I was 13 years old — I was with the first grade kids trying to learn the language. And it was very hard and I remember my teachers used to take me by the hand after school and walk to the corner restaurant where there were Greek people to translate for me. And I didn't like that. I was very depressed. I was crying. I was missing my friends. And that lasted till my father went to Boston and found himself a job. We stayed about — with him I sa — I would say a good two months, found himself a job, found an apartment and were moving to Boston, South End of Boston. And then I went to a special school just to learn English, which was heaven sent. I went there for eight months and it was — I was [unclear]. But I was with other Greece kids, Italian kids, all nationalities.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

And we were taught the language, just the language alone. No arithmetic, no history, no — just the language. And after I was through with that I was able to go back to regular school. I lost a year or two but —

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

— that was okay.

LEVINE:

Was that school in the South End?

HUNTER:

South End.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Wow.

HUNTER:

Right.

LEVINE:

I never —

HUNTER:

Vocational school.

LEVINE:

Nobody's ever mentioned that kind of —

HUNTER:

Vocational school.

LEVINE:

— a school.

HUNTER:

Yes. It was really nice even though — you know, like we moved in a third floor apartment and it wasn't luxurious. And my mom had to go to work. But they were very concerned of us so what they did — so my mother went to work days and my father went to work nights. So somebody was home every time with us. And I remember we didn't even the — the means to buy new furniture. We're — we rented furniture till we, you know — but eventually, my father worked. My mother worked. We bought new furniture. Eventually, we bought a house so it was —

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

You know, they — they worked [unclear]. And little by little, they were going back and forth bringing some more money in, so it worked out okay.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Now, the school where you learned the language, was it c — were you in classes with children of all ages?

HUNTER:

Of all ages. I — I remember they used to take them, and my sister couldn't go to school because she was young enough. She was six. I remember the youngest one there was about 10 years old.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

And I still remember her. And I met a lot of good friends there, yeah, and we had fun.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

I — I liked it there and I liked Boston —

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

— much better than, you know, way out in the boondocks, you know.

LEVINE:

Oh, uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

So the — just to backtrack a bit, when you first arrived and — and y — your uncle met you and you —

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

— left Ellis Island and —

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

— and went to Massachusetts, do you remember any things in the first few days or even weeks that struck you as a — as a 12, 13-year-old? As — struck you as different and new and —

HUNTER:

Well —

LEVINE:

— unusual?

HUNTER:

Wh — I remember the city, the towns. They were so big, you know, and everything. And I remember my aunt was very religious. She was Catholic, very religious. Came Sunday, we had to go to church with her. And I remember all I had was a real flimsy coat and I was freezing but we went to church. And — but, you know, they — I used to be — I used to be upset with her, you know, pushing us like that to learn the language and everything. But years later, I thanked her because we picked it up very well. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

So —

LEVINE:

Now, did you — so in other words, in what did you say, Middletown?

HUNTER:

Middletown.

LEVINE:

Okay. Yeah. Were — were there people — other people who had immigrated from Greece?

HUNTER:

No, I didn't know anybody else there. The — the other people that immigrated from Greece were like at South End. Mostly, the people that immigrated from Greece were from the South End.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

Yeah, and I met a lot of people there.

LEVINE:

And then, in the South End were there also groups from other countries?

HUNTER:

Yes, everywhere. A lot of countries. Yeah, yeah. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

But mostly, we had like our own.

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

And — and what did your mother do for work when she came — first came?

HUNTER:

My mother went to a factory to work and she used to work in men's lapels. And she used to — I remember she used to be — I still have the threads here. She used to be in piecemeal. She used to stitch the men's lapels. And they used to work by piece. So s — in order for her to save time, she used to bring the needles home with the threads. And there was long threads. I still have the threads.

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

Waxed threads. And we used to help every night. We have to sit down and help her thread needles so she can have them so she can do it fast. So that's what she did. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

Till she retired from there [unclear]. She retired about — when she was about 65, yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. And h — how — what was your mother — mother's attitude toward coming here?

HUNTER:

She loved it, even though, like I said, I — which it was very surprising to me because, like I said, she had maids all her life. And then, though she came here and she had to go to work, she loved it here. When my father would mention to go back to her, she didn't want any part of it. She loved it.

LEVINE:

Do you know what it was — what it was that — that made her so content here?

HUNTER:

Ah, [unclear] she loved the life. She liked — she liked the freedom, I think.

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

But I remember she — she ha — she — she would go and visit, she — she would say. But she didn't want to live there anymore.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

It was — this was her country. I mean, the — you know, I was amazed because she left her mother and her brother and everybody. She said, you know, "I feel bad for that but, you know, this is my home now here."

LEVINE:

Wow.

HUNTER:

It's very surprising, yeah.

LEVINE:

I — I guess women more — did have more freedom —

HUNTER:

Yes.

LEVINE:

— here than — than they did in —

HUNTER:

Much more.

LEVINE:

— your village.

HUNTER:

Much more. I guess that in the village the men would go in the coffeehouses. The women would stay home alone, night, and wait for them. They weren't allowed to go out and have a cup of coffee in the restaurants or anything. They weren't allowed. And even now when I go, I hardly see — I — even though it's allowed now, I don't see any women in the coffeehouses. No.

LEVINE:

Huh.

HUNTER:

It seems strange now.

LEVINE:

Yeah. Could you say anything more about that café life that the men enjoyed —

HUNTER:

[unclear]

LEVINE:

— back in — in the village?

HUNTER:

[chuckles] Yeah. It — even — even young men, even now when I go, like, young men will come home from work. And they'll have the supper and they'll just disappear to the coffeehouse and the — they'll drink coffee. They'll play cards and — and tha — that was it. You know, the — the — the — they had a nice life there, even — even young men with young families. They were just — instead a going home, say, and changing diapers and everything, they will go in the coffeehouse. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

Yeah, that's a woman's job to take care of the kids and, you know, whatever. They —

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

Their job was to make a living and then the rest will be the coffeehouses, you know.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah. That's — that's why a lot of men like that life because it was easy life for them.

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

And here when you come, men, you know — they — it's a lot of work but, you know, it's also a good living. And so that's what it is.

LEVINE:

And how about your father? He — he actually had hoped to go back.

HUNTER:

Yes.

LEVINE:

And what did he do after — after tending — or — or owning the olive groves? What did he do here?

HUNTER:

Actually, he came here and he got a job in a restaurant again.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

That's the only thing he knew how to do. Yeah. And he got a job in a restaurant working nights and eventually he became a — a night manager of the restaurant, which was introduced to him by a friend of his. And he became a night manager of that restaurant, which actually it turned out to be my husband's uncle. And that's how we — we met [unclear]. And —

LEVINE:

He owned the restaurant? Your husband's uncle?

HUNTER:

He owned it. My unc — my husband's uncle owned the restaurant. And he worked there till he retired — till he retired and got — and he had to sort of force himself into retire. He was hit by an automobile and, since then, he wasn't the same. So he —

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

— was forced to retire. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

So —

LEVINE:

Was the restaurant in the South End of Boston?

HUNTER:

In the South End of Boston, downtown Boston. Yeah, near the Boston Globe. Uh-hmm. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Wow.

HUNTER:

Yeah. That's the only thing he knew how to do.

LEVINE:

And how about English? Did — did your father —

HUNTER:

Well, my father knew broken English — broken English. My mother didn't know anything. She — she — she tried. She went to school. But again, when she went to s — night school there were a bunch of Greek women. They used to [sniffs] converse in Greek. When she went to work in the factory there were Greek women, Italian women. They would all each talk to their own language. So she really never really conquered the language. But — and the same thing with my mother-in-law. My mother-in-law never worked but there were all — my mother-in-law lived with three of her sister-in-laws and a mother-in-law. So they never got out of the house. They never spoke English. So they — as — as a re — result, she knows very little English, just enough to get by. That's about it.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. So you went through high school in Boston?

HUNTER:

Yes, in Boston.

LEVINE:

And you — college was not an option.

HUNTER:

No, not an option.

LEVINE:

So —

HUNTER:

And I didn't think of it. I was — I was anxious to get out and get a job. So I did.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. And what did you do after you got out of high school?

HUNTER:

I — I work — I — I took a secretarial one year and I — I worked in a office. I worked for Shriffcomp and Lodge [PH], like I told you. And I worked there for about four or five years. And I got married and when I got married we moved to Watertown, Massachusetts from — from South End. And then I didn't work from then on. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm. And were — were marriages being arranged in your community at that point or not?

HUNTER:

In here? In Massachusetts?

LEVINE:

In this country.

HUNTER:

In this country? Some were. Some were. Yeah. But as a matter of fact, the — the uncle that my hu — my husband's uncle, my dad used to work with, he tried to arrange a marriage between his son and me.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

And — and he arranged for me to go to a — a church dance, I remember, and to meet him. But as it came, I went with my girlfriend. And before I could meet him, my husband asked me to dance, which I never knew him. And that's — that ended that. So I met my husband like that. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

But —

LEVINE:

So it was a Greek Orthodox Church dance?

HUNTER:

Dance.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm, yeah. That's how we met. And — but my sister did — or my father and my mother were very strict about me marrying my own kind. And so I did. But my sister didn't, which broke my father's heart.

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

But —

LEVINE:

You know, you described your mother ear — earlier. But how about your father? What — what kind of —

HUNTER:

He was —

LEVINE:

— temperament or personality —

HUNTER:

Very gentle. Very gentle, never raised his voice. Of course, never raised a hand on us. He was — he would never say anything, you know, raise his voice or anything. But if he had something to say — he was not pleased with us or something we were doing, he will tell my mother, "Talk to them. Talk to them." But he will never, never raise his voice. He was a gentle man.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Very.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. Yeah.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

So — so then you raised your family in Watertown?

HUNTER:

I raised my family in Watertown. Uh-hmm. We moved to Arlington [PH] when the children were college age. And — yeah, and they're all grown up and married and have their families now. One of them is right here.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. [chuckles] So what would you say are your greatest satisfactions that you would say in your life when you look back on it?

HUNTER:

My family, what they became.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

Yeah, they all became — oh, yeah — successful in life. They have good families.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm, uh-hmm. And how do you think of — how do you balance or how do you think about the side of you that's American and the side of you that's — that's Greek?

HUNTER:

I'm proud to — of my heritage.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

But like I always said — I says, "I — I bless my father's soul for bringing us here." I always said that and especially, I say that every time I go to Greece. I — I say that where they live and I says, "Well, I love my life here and I — God rest his soul," I says, "every time I think of him bringing us here" — because it wasn't for him, we wouldn't be here.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

And — but I'm proud to be Greek. I love my heritage and everything. But I love being in America.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm. Do you — are you active in any Greek American organizations or anything?

HUNTER:

I'm active in my church.

LEVINE:

Mmm.

HUNTER:

I belong to the Ladies Auxiliary. We do a lot. As a matter of fact, we're working very hard this particular week because we having our festival this weekend.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

Yeah, so we bake and we — we do a lot of things. We raise money for unprivileged people. I do — I — I'm in charge of Thanksgiving and Christmas, collect money, buy turkeys for the soup kitchens. And we do a lot for the poor. We — actually for the poor, our group —

LEVINE:

Regardless of whether they're Greece Orth —

HUNTER:

Regardless whether they're Greece American —

LEVINE:

Yeah.

HUNTER:

Whatever. Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

At Christmas I collect toys [sniffs] and we go to our Imockley [PH], which is a lot of immigrants — workers there.

LEVINE:

Where is that?

HUNTER:

Imockley.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

It's a pri — it's near here.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

And there's a lot of immigrant workers who works in the sugar fields. And they don't have any toys for k — to any money to buy children's toys [unclear]. So I — whatever I — what I do is I collect toys from our parishioners and money to buy toys. And we deliver them there so we do a lot of good things there.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

And we belong to — to a senior group in church where we do a lot of fun things. We go — trips and stuff like that. Yeah. So —

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

So that's the only group I belong to.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

I did a little volunteering in the hospital, our local hospital here.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

But at the moment, I don't. I will go back to it.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. Do you think — how do you think coming here as a 12-, 13-year-old girl has afec — d — do — what impact do you think that experience of leaving your first life and —

HUNTER:

I felt I was uprooted. As a matter of fact, when it came time for us — we used to visit Florida a lot because my husband's business took him to Florida. And we used to vacation with the children, but when my husband started talking about moving here I was very uptight about it. And I — and I kept saying, "I was uprooted once. I don't want to be uprooted again." And that really bothered me till after a year to get used to it now. Now, I love it here.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm, uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

Yeah, just — I didn't want to be uprooted again. I mean, I felt like I — it was — it was very, very dramatic for me at that age —

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

— to move, not for another — state to state from another country. And the language, the — everything about it. Yeah, I was — I felt it was very traumatic.

LEVINE:

Mmm.

HUNTER:

My sister, on the other hand, being six years old, never fazed her. So —

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

It's the age, I think. And — and when I hear children being uprooted at that age I feel bad for them up to now.

LEVINE:

Yeah. You know, now that you're saying that, I — the stories that —

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

— I've heard —

HUNTER:

Right.

LEVINE:

It is that, like, the early teens is a very —

HUNTER:

Yeah, exactly.

LEVINE:

— sensitive time.

HUNTER:

Very sensitive time. Very, very sensitive. I think if you're younger or if you're older — you're older, you're old enough to understand and to adjust. But 12 years old — 12, 13 years old is hard.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Yeah. And just as a — as an aside, w — how do you — what was your response to the World Trade —

HUNTER:

Oh.

LEVINE:

— Tower —

HUNTER:

That's like being —

LEVINE:

— bombing?

HUNTER:

— back on the wartime — times. Yeah. It was — and, you know, when I saw my daughter being shook up about it and, you know, she was really upset about it. And she says, "How come — how can you be so calm?" And I says, "Because I went through it. I went through guards being in the streets." I mean, you know, you go to Europe and you see the guards everywhere, you know. And I says, "I'm used to it," although it was a terrible thing. But I didn't get as shook up as other people, that they seen this for the first time.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

Because I seen war before.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

And I remember we were going to go — the — we were going to go back with our children. And it must have been about '74, '75. We were ready to go with the boys and my daughter. And that's when the [unclear] War broke and — and my brother-in-law was there with his family because he worked with the American Embassy. And my mother was vacationing there. And she called me of the phone and she says, "I don't want you coming." She says, "I've seen one war and I'm afraid I'm — I'm going to be in another one." And she finally got out of it and she came back.

LEVINE:

Hmm.

HUNTER:

That was some — very traumatic.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

But I guess that — I feel like I've been there before.

LEVINE:

Oh, yeah. Uh-hmm, uh-hmm. Before we close, I — I — why don't you say your husband and your children's names?

HUNTER:

Okay. My husband is Alexander Hunter. He goes by Al. And I have a daugh —

LEVINE:

Now, he must have changed his —

HUNTER:

Yes.

LEVINE:

— original name.

HUNTER:

Actually, my father-in-law changed it for business purposes when my husband was still underage. So he goes by the — my husband and his brothers and sister went by Hunter.

LEVINE:

What was the thinking behind that? Do you know? I mean, y — you said for business purposes.

HUNTER:

Right.

LEVINE:

Th — that — that it's — it was easier to be Ameri —

HUNTER:

Eas — easier to pronounce. Mostly, my brother-in-law's. It was brother-in-law's idea. So my father-in-law went — even though there's a lot of — the name was Avtgs, which in translation in its — it translates in Turkish. It means hunter.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

That's how we got the name Hunter.

LEVINE:

I see.

HUNTER:

So from all the Avtgs — my husband has a big family here.

LEVINE:

How do you spell A — Av —

HUNTER:

A-V-T-G-S. Yeah. You — you don't — the — the T is silent, almost.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

And my oldest is my daughter and she was here for about 10 years about 10 minutes from here. Now, she lives in Tampa.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

And she's married. She has two children.

LEVINE:

And what is her name?

HUNTER:

Irene.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Irene Deroshe [PH] now. She married a French Canadian. She has two children. And then my oldest son is Suzanne's father here. He's in Sharon, Massachusetts and he took over my husband's business, which is auto transport business.

LEVINE:

Auto transport?

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

And he lives in Sharon with his wife, two boys and a girl. And my youngest is [unclear] —

LEVINE:

And w — what was his name?

HUNTER:

Oh, I'm sorry. Nicolas Hunter. He's named after my father-in-law. And the youngest is Peter Hunter. He lives in Concord, Massachusetts. And he's a lawyer. He's a business — he's — he's a — a corporate lawyer.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

And he's married and he has a little daughter, who's going to be two years old in March.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Okay. And h — and you have gra — well, you obviously have grandchildren.

HUNTER:

Oh, I have three granddaughters and three grandsons.

LEVINE:

Wow.

HUNTER:

Uh-hmm, yeah.

LEVINE:

Okay. Well, your trip to Ellis Island, was that — how — how did —

HUNTER:

What —

LEVINE:

— you feel about that?

HUNTER:

We always wanted to go —

LEVINE:

Uh-huh.

HUNTER:

— to Ellis Island. And every time — because we'd go — every summer we'd go to Massachusetts. We used to — when we sold everything finally — it took me about three years to move. First, we sold the big house. We rented a condo in Lexington for about a year because I just didn't want to make the break right away. And after that, we lived with my mother-in-law in — in — in Watertown, not the whole year, just for the summer, a few months in the summer. And then we — we got rid of everything. We came here. My husband found it's kind of — very hard for him in the summer, humid.

LEVINE:

Uh-hmm.

HUNTER:

So we decided we'll get a — buy a condo in Cape Cod. So we go four months out of the year in Boston.

LEVINE:

Oh.

HUNTER:

Spend it in Cape Cod. And what was I going to say? So that's — yeah. So that's what we do —

LEVINE:

Great.

HUNTER:

Yeah.

LEVINE:

Uh-huh. Well, is there anything else you'd like to say before we close?

HUNTER:

Well, this was very pleasant.

LEVINE:

[chuckles]

HUNTER:

I hope [chuckles] — I hope I was of help.

LEVINE:

No, it's very, very interesting.

HUNTER:

Thanks.

LEVINE:

And I want to thank you very much.

HUNTER:

And I want to thank you for going out of your way —

LEVINE:

Well [chuckles] —

HUNTER:

— to come all the way here.

LEVINE:

My pleasure.

HUNTER:

And enjoy the rest of your trip.

LEVINE:

Thank you. [chuckles] And I want to sign off now. I've been speaking with Hope Hunter. And she came in 1946 when she was just about to turn 13 years of age. And this is Janet Levine for the National Park Service signing off. [END OF INTERVIEW]