Preservation of American Hellenic History
Preservation of American Hellenic History
by Jason C. Mavrovitis
More hardships followed Elenitsa's bout with pneumonia.
On 26 May 1933, Eleni died at the age of fifty-two after collapsing at home. The cause of death was, "chronic cardiac valve disease," with "gastro-enteritis" as a contributing factor. She apparently had suffered problems with her heart for five or six years before her death. The anguish of the loss of her husband during her expulsion from Bulgaria and the problems she had to face and overcome in the years that followed took their toll. The family's grief at their matriarch's passing was profound. She was remembered at every gathering by endless stories of her life.
At the depth of the Great Depression, a second son was born to Jimmy and Lily. Dr. De Tata ushered the boy into the world on 14 March 1934 at Shore Road Hospital, a converted estate that overlooked New York Bay in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The Birth Certificate shows Jason Dimitrios Mavrovitis arrived at 12:44 A.M.
Lily had a long and difficult labor, delivering Jason after some thirty hours. Jimmy, who read and enjoyed Greek mythology, decided on to name his son Jason, pronounced Yiason in Greek. In Kastoria a son often took his father's name as a middle name. Jimmy's was Athanasios. But Bill and Rose Rusuli, godparents to Jason, chose Constantine as his Christian name and the Birth Certificate was revised to reflect the change.
Jason Constantine and Nitsa (Eleni) came to share the same name day (21 May): dedicated to Saints Constantine and Eleni, the first Christian Emperor of Rome and his mother.
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