A HISTORICAL OVERVIEW
Our chapter's roots go back to the Depression era when George Catakis, George Christodoulakis and a number of other active Cretans in the Washington area responded to the request of Mark Mamalakis, the Secretary of the newly formed Pancretan Association of America (PAA), to organize a chapter in Washington. In 1938, they formed and incorporated the Cretan Brotherhood, Proodos. The general assembly elected the following officers:
Officers:
Georgios Christodoulakis, President
Harry Garbis, Vice President
John Kookley, Secretary-Treasurer.
Board Members:
Georgios Politis; Nikoforos Papadakis; Michael Psarakis; Constantine Sarkedakis; Nicholaos Tzanis; loannis Vouros.
The following year, 1939, the general assembly adopted a new constitution and added four new members to the Board: Euristhenis Kougioumtzakis, Antonios Moundrakis, Nikolaos Pachiadakis, and Michael Trypakis.
The syllogos had as its primary objectives: "To inspire reverence for the American ideals; to observe the laws and Constitution of the United States; to assist its members to become American citizens; to strengthen the cultural bonds between Crete and America; and to help improve the social status of any Cretan in the greater Washington area." It is interesting to note that these goals demonstrate the desire to “Americanize.” This was typical of most all immigrants of this era because, as foreigners, they suffered from discrimination and sometimes persecution.
Soon, war broke out in Europe and shortly thereafter both Greece and the United States were at war. The war took priority in everyone's mind, especially in Washington, and, consequently, the Cretan Brotherhood Proodos lapsed. In 1946, however, our member, Louis Calliyiannis, was elected national PAA president, but by the end of the 1940s, the chapter became inactive.
Then in January, 1965, about 50 Cretans gathered to honor PAA President Nick Delis, who was visiting the city, at a dinner in downtown Washington, DC. With the urging of President Delis, they decided to revive the Cretan syllogos that had been dormant for almost two decades. This time there were a number of American-born Cretans, and although some of the goals and objectives were basically the same as their fathers' 25 years earlier, they also instituted some significant changes, the most important being the inclusion of women as full members and establishing the goal of preserving their Cretan heritage in America.
These organizers included George Charatis, who was elected president, Mike and Dorothy Manatos, George and Helen Christian (George was the nephew of the first president of Proodos), Mary Koutris, George, Mary and Amelia Catakis, and several others. It was a very busy year for the new syllogo, because they held two more major events that year. The first was a glendi held at St. Sophia's Cathedral with entertainment by a dance troupe from Crete that was touring the U.S. at that time. The second was a very well attended dinner-dance held at the famous Shoreham Hotel Ballroom. Dance troupes from New York and the Midwest performed to the accompaniment of live Cretan music. The new syllogos, The Cretan Association of Washington, DC, grew to about 100 members. In addition to the typical dinner-dances, picnics, and the like, the chapter also undertook other activities that could only occur in Washington. For example, in July, 1965, the chapter greeted almost 100 Cretan-Canadians from Montreal with whom they held an official memorial honoring President Kennedy at his grave site in Arlington National Cemetery. Later that evening, we held a dinner-dance at which the Canadians were our, and the PAA's, guests. In 1974 at the PAA national convention in San Francisco, one of those who reorganized the syllogo, Emanuel Tsourounis, was elected national PAA president. In 1976, the delegates at the Pittsburgh convention unanimously reelected Manoli for a second term.
In the early 1980s the syllogos joined six other local Greek organizations, the Laconians, Epirotes, Roumeliotes, Vourvouriotes, the AHEPA 383 and Prometheas to establish the Hellenic Center of Washington. The dream was to have a center where the Greek culture could be promoted. The center would contain a library, meeting rooms and offices for the member associations, a hall for receptions, art exhibits, lectures, etc. Land was acquired in Wheaton, Maryland for the center, but funds could never be raised to build the facility and the dream faded. Recently, however, the concept has been brought to life with the sale of the property for over one million dollars. The Center is again on the "front burner" and our syllogos is again playing a primary role in the leadership and operation of the organization.
In January, 1984, we undertook a revision of our constitution and, to honor the great Cretan man of letters, Nikos Kazantzakis, we renamed the chapter, The Cretan Association of Greater Washington, DC - Nikos Kazantzakis. In 1991 we hosted the PAA's 50th Anniversary of the Battle of Crete Celebration. A large dinner-dance was held at the Marriott Hotel in Fairfax, Virginia, where we were entertained by the famous lyraris, Vasili Skoulas and the dance troupe from Labrys, the youth chapter in New York. The guest speakers were George Kiriakopoulos, author of Ten Days to Destiny, and loannis Kefalogiannis, the Greek Minister of Culture. Guests included PAA President George Vardakis and most of the PAA Board.
Perhaps the greatest event in the chapter's history was hosting the 35th PAA National Biennial Convention. The theme of the convention was "Honoring Our Cretan Veterans" and it was held during the 4th of July holiday so that our guests from Crete, Greece and all of America could enjoy the Independence Day celebrations in our nation's capital. The Convention Committee Chairperson was Theodore Manousakis who did a magnificent job. He was able to recruit people who had not been active for many years to play key roles in organizing and chairing the events of the convention. The convention included such events as the Divine Liturgy celebrated by Archbishop Spyridon at the Arlington National Cemetery, a picnic in the Virginia countryside, the Greek comedy play, "Fonazi o Kleftis" by D. Psathas, a Cretan Night featuring Rizitika singers, Youth Dancers and musicians and a Freedom Day Luncheon honoring our veterans.
Our chapter is proud of our participation in the PAA. We have provided many leaders at the national level including: our current President Theodore Manousakis, and past Presidents Louis Calliyiannis and Emanuel Tsourounis; 1st Vice President Charilaos Lagoudakis; 2nd Vice President: James Saklas; 3rd Vice President George Charatis; General Supervisors Theodore Manousakis and James Saklas; Treasurers George Catakis, Emanuel Tsourounis and James Saklas; Pancretan Youth President James Saklas; Chair, Board of Trustees Charilaos Lagoudakis; Scholarship Chairpersons George Charatis, James Saklas and Rema Manousakis; Century Club Chairperson Theodore Manousakis; District Governor Theodore Manousakis; Pancretan Foundation Chair Theodore Manousakis, IT Chairperson Manos Coutoulakis; HANC Representative Peter Paras.
During the last decade the chapter has focused in philanthropic, cultural, and educational activities related with Crete and in general with Greece. The chapter has organized fund raising events to support philanthropic purposes in Greece and elsewhere.
The future of our Chapter needs to be properly cultivated by attracting the youth to actively participate in many of our activities. The Chapter is proud to have sponsored many young Cretans to participate in the PAA Convention, has widely encouraged the youth to seek and receive PAA scholarships, and has actively sought help from Cretan young professionals to offer their expertise in IT and legal matters among others.
With emphasis in cultural and educational programs, our Chapter will perpetuate our customs. Our Chapter is actively seeking to rekindle the flame, in the hearts of our co-patriots in the Greater Washington, D.C. Area.
PARTIAL LIST OF PAST PRESIDENTS
- Georgios Christodoulakis (1938)
- George Charatis (1965-1967)
- John (Manrangakis) Douglas (1967-1968)
- Charilaos Lagoudakis (1968-1970)
- Emanuel G. Bourlas (1970-1971)
- Emanuel Tsourounis (1971-1973)
- Ed Vaughan (1973-1974)
- Evangelos Koulizakis (1974-1975)
- Mike Manatos (1975-1977)
- Antonis Mikalis (1977-1978)
- Aristotelis Nikoloudakis (1978-1979)
- Steve Cavros (1979-1980)
- James Saklas (1980-1984)
- Colonel Nisos (1984-1987)
- Manolis Skinarakis (1987-1989)
- Rolando Papadakis (1989-1992)
- Theodore (Ted) Manousakis (1992-1996)
- Peter Paras (1996-1998)
- Stratis (Taki) Mourtzanakis (1998-2000)
- Peter Paras (2000-2002)
- Manos Coutoulakis (2002-2005)
- Irene Drimi Konstantopoulos (2005-2013)
- Manos Coutoulakis (2013-2015)
- George Vomvolakis (2015-2017)
- Maria Plevrakis 2017-2024)
- Theodora Petrakis 2024-Present)
