Voula Likourgiotis

In 1958 Voula Likourgiotis was not sixteen, when she left Patras in southern Greece to meet her fiancé, Theodore, who had come to Saint John the previous year. Thodore was staying with his sister and working for an uncle in his restaurant. Initially he spoke no English, but he did have some restaurant experience from Greece. Theodore encouraged Voula “He talked me into it,” she says. “It was an adventure, this coming to a promised land. I had known Theodore since we were children. I was young and fearless.”

Soon Voula and Theodore were married in Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church in Saint John. They opened their own restaurant, which did well, but after a few years, accompanied by year-old twin sons they returned to Greece. Opportunities in Greece were not as good as they had expected, so once more the young family came back to Canada. This time they built their own restaurant, The Mediterranean, from scratch. In the 1970s it was a successful supper club, with a dance floor and live bands. As the bands became more expensive, and their usual clientele no longer wanted so much dancing, Voula and Theodore scaled back their operation. Ever since then The Mediterranean has remained a successful, popular eating spot in Saint John. For a time other members of Voula’s family came to Saint John from Greece, and joined their restaurant operation. Her father has now retired. He and his wife spend part of the year in Greece, and the rest of the time in Saint John.

In addition to her involvement in the family restaurant, Voula also operated two businesses on her own, a yarn shop for nine years, and a gift shop for six years. She has done modeling, painting, yoga, theatre, and dance. She has taught Greek dancing for years to each, successive generation of Greek children in Saint John. Some of her dancers participated in Dance ’98 at the Imperial Theatre in Saint John, and others regularly take part in events organized by the city’s Multicultural Association.

Voula and Theodore Likourgiotis are extremely involved with St. Nicholas Greek Church. Voula is president of the busy Philoptochos Society associated with the Church. She says that women in the Saint John Greek community have no problems. She thinks that gradually more will join in and become members of the Church Council, as she has done, but so far none of the other women have come forward, because they are so busy. She remarks: “In time there will be more women on the Council, but nobody’s complaining. More of us could be there, if we wanted that.”

Voula and Theodore Likourgiotis have three sons, now adults. All have a university education. One Yorgo, is an architect in Chicago, and the twins, Chris and John, have returned to Saint John and joined the family business after careers in Toronto. These men have married women from outside the Greek community, but their wives and their children are attending Greek School at St. Nicholas and participating in the community’s activities. Voula worries that the Greek language and culture may gradually be lost to her grandchildren, but she says, “My own children feel very Greek and are very proud of their heritage. I usually speak English with the grandchildren for the few hours of the week we spend together. I want them to understand me and to have fun with me.” She speaks Greek with her sons, if they are speaking privately, but otherwise they speak English in order to include her daughters-in-law in the conversations. Her family follows both Greek customs and some non-Greek customs because of her sons’ wives. They celebrate Roman Catholic Easter with the wives’ customs and Greek Easter with Orthodox traditions.

Voula and Theodore feel themselves to be very Canadian. They have friends in both the Greek and the non-Greek communities of Saint John. Voula says: “I am a Canadian Greek in Greece and a Greek Canadian in Canada. When I’m in Greece, I feel more Canadian. I have adapted to Canada. I grew up here, both spiritually and mentally. Most of our lives have been spent here, and that is the way we like it.”