ARTHUR VARTHOLOMIS (VARTHAS)
(Son of Nicholas and Argiro Vartholomis)
Remembered by Nicholas Vartholomis, his son
My father, Arthur, who was born on January 18th 1910, did not tell me too much about his early life. He did say that I looked like his father, Nicholas, and that his father was a very strong, large, tall man. He said he remembered him carrying huge bags (I assume of some grain) on his shoulders. Ellis Island records show that Arthur came into the USA in 1946.
An isolated story my father told me took place during the WW2. He said two of the ships he was assigned to were sunk by German submarines. After one of those sinkings, he was in the water for an extended period of time and noticed that there were sharks in the water. A few men he knew were caught by the sharks. He was lucky not to be taken by sharks and to be rescued after both times those ships were sunk. He also recalled that a few times he had to work for hours keeping the boilers of the ship running at full speed since they thought a submarine was following them. At least it worked sometimes.
Arthur continued to be a Merchant Marine after the war and somehow, he met Angelo Mikros (Vangelis Maragkoudaki), during his trips to New York. Angelo then introduced Arthur to his sister, Elizabeth.
Elizbeth was born in the U.S on December 5th, 1920 but went to Greece at the age of 2. She then came back to the U.S in 1947 or 1948. It was discovered that Elizabeth was on the same ship my father was working on but neither knew that at the time since he worked down with the boilers, and she was a passenger. I remember her telling me she was seasick for the entire voyage and after that experience did not go on ships, other than the Staten Island Ferry. I guess that is why I get seasick. It also explains why the son of a sailor can’t take the ocean.
A week after Arthur was introduced to Elizabeth, he asked her to marry him, and she accepted. He then went to sea for the last time for about 6 months. When he returned, they got married in August of 1948. This was the beginning of Arthur’s and Elizabeth’s lives together. After my parents were married, Arthur started working at a small Greek Orthodox church in Manhattan as a Chanter and building superintendent.
By July 11, 1949, their first son Nicholas (me), was born. Two more sons were born to Arthur and Elizabeth. Stephen was born on May 11, 1951, and Constantine on February 20, 1953.
When we moved to the Bronx, Arthur continued with chanting in the Greek Orthodox Church of The Virgin Mary of Zoodohos Peghe. My cousin Joyce (from my mother’s side) would often attend that church for her name day.
Arthur spent most of his years as a building superintendent. The buildings varied in size from 30 to 60 apartments. He cleaned the buildings and handled all the small repairs. Most landlords and tenants at these places liked him especially when it came to providing heat since he knew how to maintain the boilers. The only time he had to call a repair person was when something electrical would go wrong in the boiler control box. I am sure he saved the owners of these buildings a lot of money. It seemed like we would move every 3 or 4 years because he would find another building owner who offered more money for the role as superintendent.
Arthur put a very high value on education, and while we all grew up in the Bronx, we moved to White Plains New York, which is in the suburbs of New York City, when I started college. While I was at college, Arthur got a job at Saint Joseph’s Hospital in Yonkers New York as a boiler engineer. I recall he worked there mostly second shift, but sometimes his relief did not show up and he ended up working two shifts. Then he’d come home and be a superintendent. There were many times when he just could not stay awake during the day. If there were no repairs to attend to, he was lucky and could sleep. I helped where I could by sweeping the hallway and stairs and did some of the more minor repairs like change hallway light bulbs, replace a burned-out switch, organise the trash etc. Thanks to my father, I also learned how to operate the building elevator and managed to get a few people out of a stuck elevator.
Arthur was a conscientious provider for his family. Not one to be idle. Another work venture was sanding and finishing wood floors. He purchased all the equipment and got jobs through word of mouth. The owners of the buildings, where he was a superintendent, sometimes hired him to finish floors of vacant apartments. As I got older, maybe 14, I used to go with him and help him. I primarily swept the floors after he sanded them, and hand scrapped the corners where even his small machine could not go. As I got older, I was allowed to do some of the sanding with the large machine. I guess I got good at it too since while going to college my boss at a supermarket where I worked let me bring the machines in to sand the floor of the meat department.
Finally, we moved to Hastings on the Hudson where my father purchased a 3-story apartment block and retired. He rented out the apartment on the 2nd and 3rd floors while we lived on the 1st floor. I only lived there for 12 months in order to finish college and find a job.
Arthur died in the hospital, after a fall that required hip surgery, on November 4th, 1992. His son, Constantine, was being treated for Lupus and needed a kidney transplant. He died tragically in a fire in my mother’s home on March 19th, 2000. The fire was caused by a lit cigarette left on the sofa by his wife. Fortunately, Elizabeth was not home at the time of the fire. Her health issues required she that be placed in hospice care for colon cancer.
On April 23, 2000, she died, never knowing that Constantine died before her.