In Memory of Debra Stephanie Stevens

In Memory of Debra Stephanie Stevens

LIKE THE SONG SAYS "ITS A SMALL WORLD AFTER ALL"

http://www.spetsesdirect.com

 I grew up knowing very little extended family.  I would listen to my mother, uncles and aunts talk about their memories of their parents and in particular of their Dad.  But there always seemed to be something missing.  Their father immigrated to the United States from Greece in the early 1920's.  He changed his sir name and all contact was lost with his family.

He was planning to return to Greece when he became sick and had a heart attack and died.  After the death of my mother, I found a letter dated 1946 from Spetses, Greece.  She was writing the letter for her mother in law who ached to know what ever happened to her son.

My mother died in 1997 and I was working on the internet looking at Roots web.  I came across an obituary for a woman named Paniogta Thymaras.  This was the name of the woman who had written in 1946.  This woman died the same week as my mother; this is where the world gets small!  It turns out this woman was my mothers aunt, whom she never met.

Some of the family had moved from Greece to Canada.  We had no idea there were any relatives living so close to us, in North America at that.

My point here is that there are great tools at our finger tips to trace our roots and to even get to know living extended family members. With the use of the internet, the world is right at our finger tips.