Preservation of American Hellenic History
Preservation of American Hellenic History
by Jason C. Mavrovitis
At seventeen Lily was eager to marry and make her own home. Her wish to marry may in part have been driven by a resentment of her stepfather, Louie Perna. Already having lost a father and a step-father she was probably reluctant to bond closely with this new man in her mother's life. Perhaps she saw him as a rival for her mother's affection. Nonetheless, Louie adored Lily, even if her relationship with him was sometimes cool and guarded.
In February of 1922, Lily met a young man named James (Demetrios) Tsavalas at a party give by a friend. He asked for her address, and within the week came courting. He visited Lily at home four or five times, finally asking Eleni for permission to marry her daughter.
Lily wanted to marry and had a set of three suitors from which to select a husband: Demetrios Tsavalas, twenty-four, who was from Corinth claimed to be a well to do candy manufacturer in Detroit; Demetrios Mavrovitis, twenty-one, a young furrier from a village near Kastoria, Greece working in New York; and another Greek man whose name and place of origin are unknown. Eleni inquired about Tsavalas' business situation and on learning from him that he was a successful confectioner with several employees she gave her permission for the marriage.
James Tsavalas and Lily had a civil marriage performed on 20 April 1922. However they did not live together until after 25 June 1922, the date that Father Macaronis, the priest at St. Eleftherios Greek Orthodox Church on West Twenty-fourth Street, solemnized their union. One of her failed suitors, the young Kastorian furrier, attended the wedding. Lily's cousin Toto Capidaglis remembered Demetrios Mavrovitis sitting at the back of the church in tears. He had met Lily at a dance in New York City in 1921 and fallen in love with her.
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