Nora Pughsley
I found a suitably autumnal shot from the old family files. This is my great-aunt Leonora Morekis Pughsley walking on the farm, as far as I can tell sometime in the 1960s.
We just call her Nora, or more correctly, “Thea Nora,” i.e., Aunt Nora. Along with our Thea Anne — who you’ll hear more from later here — she’s one of Papoo Kelly’s younger sisters, born in America. His two older sisters, Angela and Heriklea, were born in Samos. Nora and Anne were born after Costas’s wife Maria Nikita “Big Yiayia” finally came over to the States.
Not sure where exactly on the tract this shot was taken, but I can pretty much assure you those beautiful Live Oaks aren’t still there.
Thea Nora has a wickedly funny sense of humor and tells some good stories about life growing up at the old Morekis Dairy. She has a fun one about a bicycle that she bought from one of the African-American hands hired to work on the farm, who went by the name of “Cheese.”
“I had a bicycle that I bought from Cheese. I bought it from him for a dollar and a half,” Nora relates. “We were set to go to Greece, so I took the bicycle apart and put it in the attic.”
When she got back to Savannah, she put the bike back together and took it for a ride on White Bluff Road, where the farm was located.
“I would dress in shorts, a nice blouse and white gloves, and get on my bike and go down that hill right by the White Bluff School. I did that for several days. One day I was riding the bike back home and suddenly the handlebars just cut in half, split wide open. I thought, ‘How am I going to steer this thing?’ So I walked it back, all the way home, all dressed up in white gloves and shorts. Everybody was nice back then. Nobody would bother you. You could ride your bike or walk, whatever.”
The Morekis Dairy 
July 6, 2009 at 6:20 am
Great website…now I can justify all the bragging about growing up in Savannah on the old homestead. Also, I have a lot of stories to add to your collection (if you had only asked me!) and I can possibly come up with a few pictures. I was amused upon reading the story of Yiayia and the Sacklas, mainly because they conducted their business with the hadicap of a language barrier. Saklas was Jewish, Yiayia was Greek and her English amounted to just a few words. Did they resort to bargaining with sign language? We shall never know, but I agree Yiayia Morekis always came out the winner! By the way, our Mother Vasilia used to bleach the feed sacks until they were soft and she sewed them into bedsheets..I recall they were a bit scratchy to the touch but being the excellent seamstress she managed to keep her seams in line with the delicate flower design. Martha Stewart, if she were around in those years during the “40s and “50’s, would’ve have been proud!