{"id":104,"date":"2014-01-27T18:01:02","date_gmt":"2014-01-27T18:01:02","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/new.alfiers.com\/?page_id=104"},"modified":"2023-12-25T23:31:59","modified_gmt":"2023-12-25T23:31:59","slug":"konstantino-john-alfieris","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/?page_id=104","title":{"rendered":"Konstantino John Alfieris 1905-1977"},"content":{"rendered":"

Konstantino (Gus) was born in Alexandria, Egypt, until he was almost three years old.\u00a0 He, along with his mother and sister, Spyrithoula, sailed by themselves to Ellis Island where they were detained for a few weeks because Gus had pink eye.\u00a0 His father, John, had arranged for their passage to America and brought them to Oakland, California, once they were released from Ellis Island. \u00a0John and Maria settled in West Oakland where they raised all their children.<\/p>\n

\"Alfieris1908\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Maria, Spyrithoula and Konstantino in 1907.<\/p>\n

\"1918AlfiersKids\"<\/a><\/p>\n

The Alfieris children at their West Oakland home, circa 1917. \u00a0 Gus sits at the far right.<\/p>\n

As the eldest son, Gus was responsible for his parents’ well-being. \u00a0Lacking an education past the 8th grade, he earned money by working odd jobs, bartering, trading, and selling metal and eventually used cars.<\/p>\n

\"AlfierisGusHarry1923\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Above: Gus (on the left) and his younger brother, Harry, circa 1927. \u00a0Below: Working an odd job on a farm in El Cerrito, near Oakland<\/p>\n

\"AlfierisGus\"<\/a><\/p>\n

By the time he was in his early 20s Gus had built a substantial and thriving business in West Oakland.\u00a0Soon after WWII, he \u00a0bought a large, two-storey home on MacArthur Boulevard in Oakland, Lake Merritt. \u00a0He and his family lived on the first floor. \u00a0He took his parents out of West Oakland and moved them to the second floor of this home. \u00a0For the next decade, this became the family home that welcomed all John and Maria’s grandchildren. \u00a0\u00a0The property included a large backyard where the grandchildren played \u00a0and the family gathered for parties. \u00a0Here are John and Maria in 1953 standing at the center of their seven children and spouses in the backyard. \u00a0Gus and his wife, Vivian, \u00a0stand at Maria\u2019s left.<\/p>\n

\"1953Yard\"<\/a><\/p>\n

In the late 1950s, the City of Oakland demolished many homes along that boulevard to make way for the 580 freeway. \u00a0Gus purchased a home for his parents on Athol Avenue in Oakland, a block from Lake Merritt, and moved them in. \u00a0He and his family moved to a new home in Pleasant Hill. \u00a0Gus and his brothers supported their parents financially for most of their lives, and they visited them each week to monitor their well-being.<\/p>\n

Gus met his wife, Vivian, when she was 15 and immediately married her in 1926, deviating from the tradition that Greek boys marry Greek girls. \u00a0Oddly, Gus rarely, if ever, went to the Greek Orthodox church my grandparents were so deeply involved in, both religiously and socially.\u00a0 Of all their children, he was the only one who kept his distance from religion and the Greek community.<\/p>\n

Gus and Vivian had a daughter, Olive, whom they nicknamed\u00a0Lolly.<\/em>\u00a0 She was born in 1927. \u00a0She was his parent’s first grandchild. \u00a0She lived with Gus and Vivian until she married Don Fairclough in 1950. \u00a0Gus gave her an elaborate wedding. \u00a0She’s pictured here with her grandparents, Maria and John.<\/p>\n

\"1950Lolly\"<\/a><\/p>\n

A heavy smoker, Gus died at age 72 of lung cancer. \u00a0He was survived by his wife, his daughter, and two grandchildren, Steven and Sandra Fairclough. \u00a0He was a kind-hearted man, always watching over the family.\u00a0 He was extremely active in the Masons and then the Shriner organizations once he established his business and became affluent. \u00a0He brought both his brothers, Harry and Milton, into the Masons.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Konstantino (Gus) was born in Alexandria, Egypt, until he was almost three years old.\u00a0 He, along with his mother and sister, Spyrithoula, sailed by themselves to Ellis Island where they were detained for a few weeks because Gus had pink eye.\u00a0 His father, John, had arranged for their passage to America and brought them to … [Read more…]<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"parent":87,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"class_list":["entry","page","publish","author-kstathis","post-104"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=104"}],"version-history":[{"count":13,"href":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":231,"href":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/104\/revisions\/231"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/pages\/87"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.alfiers.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=104"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}