February 2017
COMMUNITY NEWS
RenfrewCollingwoodCommunityNews.com
Remembering Tony Siliverdis of Zorro’s Pizza
by Jerry Siliverdis
My father Eleftherios “Tony” Siliverdis was born in Kefalonia, Greece, on January 6, 1948. He worked the family farm and loved to hunt and fish on his time off as a youth. Due to political issues, the economic situation of Greece was unprosperous and this forced my grandparents to send my father to work on the ships from a young age. He did not finish high school but was a sharp as a razor. After fulfilling his Greek Army conscription and spending time in the Greek Navy, he continued as a Merchant Marine. My father sailed all over the world: Japan, Argentina, Egypt, Philippines, Australia, India, the U.S., the U.K., Russia and Hong Kong are just some of the places he has stories of. Whether its black market trading in the Mediterranean Sea, love in Japan or a bar fight reminiscent of a Jackie Chan movie, there is always a lesson, a moral and a lot of hijinks.
My dad (Tony Siliverdis) is in the middle anchored by his two close friends on a merchant ship.
My father’s adventures eventually brought him to Thompson, Manitoba, where hard work and coldclimate shock were alleviated by the lifestyle of the First Nations. It was there he finally felt a lifestyle close to nature that paralleled his life as a youth in Greece. These good times would be reflected in the art that hung on the walls at Zorro’s and in the friends he made along the way. My father eventually moved to Vancouver where he worked in a smelting plant, as a carpenter and as a cook. At this time, he also met the love of his life, my mother Anna, through one of his oldest friends. My mother and father were inseparable when they weren’t working opposite shifts and often enjoyed time out together at Stanley Park. Life wasn’t without hardship, and for a period of about four years, my father and mother did not enjoy steady
This is my dad and his grandson. He was properly happy for the first time in a long time when he came along.
Multicultural potluck at Bruce Page 4
My parents walking down the aisle. Pretty happy bunch.
Eating Out in RC: Romantic Eats Page 5
Joyce St. in 1914 Page 6
Continued on page 2
Mother thanks Big Brothers Page 11