Preservation of American Hellenic History
Preservation of American Hellenic History
by Jason C. Mavrovitis
Before leaving on her trip Eleni arranged for Lily's future. She visited her attorney to have the title to her house entered as a joint tenancy with Lily. Witness to the document was Rose Dimitroff Rusuli, Bill Rusuli's wife. Eleni's husband, Louis Perna, did not have his name on any of the recorded documents for the property at 260 Ovington Avenue.
Louie was completely devoted to Eleni and to Lily. He was as good a father-in-law and grandfather as anyone might be. Yet Eleni remained financially independent. Louis was generous to his grandchildren and in his later years was able to afford a home of his own and a comfortable retirement.
Eleni and Louis returned from Europe to their home in Brooklyn in time for the birth of their granddaughter on 13 September 1931. The baby's name was Eleni (Helene), after her grandmother.
The Great Depression intensified and work was hard to find. Jimmy matched and cut skins for several fur manufacturers two or three hours at a time, barely making ends meet. Eleni and Louie were both in and out of work, and Eleni had lost a fortune in the mad craze of currency speculation that enticed novice investors in the twenties.
In the winter of 1932-33, Jimmy and Lily's baby, Eleni, contracted pneumonia just as her deceased brother had. The family did not sleep for days as they nursed her and prayed. A new family doctor, Ettore J. De Tata, cared for Elenitsa.(4) He prescribed among other remedies, open windows.
So in the middle of winter the baby's room had its windows wide open, while to keep the house warm Jimmy and Louie shoveled coal into the jaws of the furnace in the basement. Three years later a modern oil-burning unit replaced the coal furnace and Leonardo converted the room that had held the coal storage bins into a space for wine barrels.
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