Family Card - Person Sheet
NameIrene Despinis 
Death1 Oct 1961, Home
Burialabt 4 Oct 1961
Spouses
*New [OCCU]1949, A.C. Lawrence
Notes for Irene Despinis
{geni:occupation} Textile worker, homemaker, farm wife
{geni:about_me} I believe that Irene was the Second of eight kids of Vassiliki and George Despinis. Her father died in a hunting accident when she was about 10, leaving her mother to deal with 7 siblings. After a couple of yearsof working in the village of Pirgos as a field servant for a nun who beat her, she set out to work abroad as an indentured servant in Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey for four years. After that, her elder sister Sophia followed her to Fayoum, Egypt, where she worked for four more years as an indentured servent for a Greek engineer who was working on a project for the government, possibly British government, to drain the marshes in the area, saving her money to send back to her mother emmigrate to Peabody, Massachusetts. She lived with many others in Peabody, working finally in New Hampshire. The priest in Peabody made several trips to New Hampshire to try to match-make, as it was unheard of that a single woman work and bide for herself. She reportedly crossed her arms and said that she "didn't need any man to support her". Eventually, the priest introduced her to Costas (Konstantinos or "Charlie"), who had a "good job" (a leather worker in a poisonous environment that killed him) and had a house and a few acres in Peabody. She was about 21 and he about 36 when they married. They had 5 children, but one, John, died in infancy, as was common in those days.
In Fayoum, she experienced an interession of the Virgin Mary. At 18, she was tall and beautiful and working as a domestic in the main house. Someone was ill and she had to go into town to the chemist for some medicine. She walked the long and lonely road into town and passed the coffee house where the Turks and Arabs were drinking coffee and smoking hashish. Finishing her business at the chemist, she left the town only to be followed at some distance by some of the men who had been oogling her at the coffee house. As she did for her entire life, she prayed to the Theotokos for intercession. As she passed a turn in the road, an old woman APPEARED at her side. When her stalkers turned the curve in the road and saw that she was not alone and that there would be a witness, they gave up and went back to town. When they were out of sight, the old woman disappeared. GOTTA LOVE IT!!!
{geni:eye_color} Brown
{geni:height_1} 5 feet
{geni:height_2} 8 inches
{geni:about_me} I believe that Irene was the Second of eight kids of Vassiliki and George Despinis. Her father died in a hunting accident when she was about 10, leaving her mother to deal with 7 siblings. After a couple of yearsof working in the village of Pirgos as a field servant for a nun who beat her, she set out to work abroad as an indentured servant in Smyrna (Izmir), Turkey for four years. After that, her elder sister Sophia followed her to Fayoum, Egypt, where she worked for four more years as an indentured servent for a Greek engineer who was working on a project for the government, possibly British government, to drain the marshes in the area, saving her money to send back to her mother emmigrate to Peabody, Massachusetts. She lived with many others in Peabody, working finally in New Hampshire. The priest in Peabody made several trips to New Hampshire to try to match-make, as it was unheard of that a single woman work and bide for herself. She reportedly crossed her arms and said that she "didn't need any man to support her". Eventually, the priest introduced her to Costas (Konstantinos or "Charlie"), who had a "good job" (a leather worker in a poisonous environment that killed him) and had a house and a few acres in Peabody. She was about 21 and he about 36 when they married. They had 5 children, but one, John, died in infancy, as was common in those days.
In Fayoum, she experienced an interession of the Virgin Mary. At 18, she was tall and beautiful and working as a domestic in the main house. Someone was ill and she had to go into town to the chemist for some medicine. She walked the long and lonely road into town and passed the coffee house where the Turks and Arabs were drinking coffee and smoking hashish. Finishing her business at the chemist, she left the town only to be followed at some distance by some of the men who had been oogling her at the coffee house. As she did for her entire life, she prayed to the Theotokos for intercession. As she passed a turn in the road, an old woman APPEARED at her side. When her stalkers turned the curve in the road and saw that she was not alone and that there would be a witness, they gave up and went back to town. When they were out of sight, the old woman disappeared. GOTTA LOVE IT!!!
{geni:eye_color} Brown
{geni:height_1} 5 feet
{geni:height_2} 8 inches