Conrad H. Pavellas (1913-2000) was involved in many community efforts in his lifetime, the most satisfying and productive being his building and leading, with others, the Original Daly Protective Association (ODCPA). Here are some pictures, first, of his early days in Daly City, then some photos of him politicking for ODCPA. These are the first seven pictures.
Following these are photos from his beginning as a sort of wild child, nurtured as such by his mother Clara Lucille Harpending. His family had money in the teens and early 20s, but it was all gone by the depression and when I was born (January 1937), dad was employed in the Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), established by President F.D. Roosevelt to help combat the anomie of the American people when 25% were unemployed. Dad hated to be on the dole and finally got a job in San Francisco in a movie photo lab at $25 per week.
His early days were in Mill Valley, and you can see how he was raised until age 9, when the Marin County authorities insisted he go to regular school. This was the end of him dressing as if he were living in Ancient Greece. His mother, Lucille, was enamored of the revival of ancient Greek arts, lead by the dancer Isadora Duncan. Lucille and her sister Genevieve were instructed by Raymond Duncan, Isadoras brother. The quondam business manager of Raymond was George Demetrious Papageorge, and he connected with Genevieve. His pal, Alexander Konstantinos Pavellas, a lawyer, diplomat and one time Acting Consul General of Greece in San Francisco, connected with Lucille. The couples married, lived in the house of their then wealthy father-in-law (Asbury Harpending, Jr. Read his autobiography re-published by the University of Oklahoma Press: The Great Diamond Hoax and Other Stirring Episodes in the Life of Asbury Harpending).
Papageorge added a hyphenated -Palladius to his name to give his son a more American sounding name(!), and also to give his own name a classier sound. He was a promoter, and a Svengali to the whole family. Our family has a redwood bust of Papageorge-Palladius, a white elephant in the temporary possession of my daughter Andrea Slosarik.
Despite this unusual beginning in which his mother (and, I believe tutors) taught him classic literature and history, Greek, Latin and the arts, he eventually took a more conventional path. He was in his senior year at Berkeley (in political science and was in the R.O.T.C.) when his mother, father and uncle Papageorge-Palladius all died within a year. He dropped out at age 21 and took over the family business, a Greek-American newspaper, The Prometheus. Dad was no businessman. He was a socialist (eventually the Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Socialist Labor Party), and later an ardent Democrat. The business failed, but not before he met Artemis Pagonis when he was traveling the west coast to collect subscription money. They married within two weeks, quickly had a child (my humble self) and eventually got into the war effort by working at the Kaiser Richmond shipyards building Victory Ships.
He moved the family to Brooklyn just after the War to enter into a promised partnership in a printing company owned, in Manhattan, by his cousin George Pavellas. It was a ruse, and dad became a slave. It was an awful time for him and our small family, away from all friends and relatives, trapped in a seedy part of Brooklyn with dad enslaved by his cousin. Dads only hope for escape was to get a Printers Union card, which he finally was able to do and we escaped back to San Francisco 5-1/2 years after our arrival (January 1946-Summer, 1951).
Dad started working for the San Francisco Examiner as a linotypist and eventually became the typographical Unions chairman for the chapel of The Examiner. We lived first in San Francisco, then in Berkeley so I could go to Berkeley High School as he did. After I graduated High school and eventually joined the US Navy, Dad, Mom & Diane moved back to San Francisco in the Richmond District. After mustering out of the Navy at age 21, I moved back with the family to attend San Francisco City College. A year later I married a local girl, who also joined us in the Richmond district flat. Dad decided to buy his first house to accommodate us all, and it was to be the fateful move to 62 Theta Avenue, Daly City.
After many years in Daly City, dad ultimately retired to San Jose and tended his garden so well, that others asked him to do theirs and he was in business againat no profit. Once a socialist, always a socialist, it seems, at least for dad. He had just turned 88 when he died at home, in the bosom of his small nuclear family. All three of us were there with him at the end.
Please see the text accompanying most of the pictures, which will add content to this biography.
Following these are photos from his beginning as a sort of wild child, nurtured as such by his mother Clara Lucille Harpending. His family had money in the teens and early 20s, but it was all gone by the depression and when I was born (January 1937), dad was employed in the Writers Project of the Works Progress Administration (WPA), established by President F.D. Roosevelt to help combat the anomie of the American people when 25% were unemployed. Dad hated to be on the dole and finally got a job in San Francisco in a movie photo lab at $25 per week.
His early days were in Mill Valley, and you can see how he was raised until age 9, when the Marin County authorities insisted he go to regular school. This was the end of him dressing as if he were living in Ancient Greece. His mother, Lucille, was enamored of the revival of ancient Greek arts, lead by the dancer Isadora Duncan. Lucille and her sister Genevieve were instructed by Raymond Duncan, Isadoras brother. The quondam business manager of Raymond was George Demetrious Papageorge, and he connected with Genevieve. His pal, Alexander Konstantinos Pavellas, a lawyer, diplomat and one time Acting Consul General of Greece in San Francisco, connected with Lucille. The couples married, lived in the house of their then wealthy father-in-law (Asbury Harpending, Jr. Read his autobiography re-published by the University of Oklahoma Press: The Great Diamond Hoax and Other Stirring Episodes in the Life of Asbury Harpending).
Papageorge added a hyphenated -Palladius to his name to give his son a more American sounding name(!), and also to give his own name a classier sound. He was a promoter, and a Svengali to the whole family. Our family has a redwood bust of Papageorge-Palladius, a white elephant in the temporary possession of my daughter Andrea Slosarik.
Despite this unusual beginning in which his mother (and, I believe tutors) taught him classic literature and history, Greek, Latin and the arts, he eventually took a more conventional path. He was in his senior year at Berkeley (in political science and was in the R.O.T.C.) when his mother, father and uncle Papageorge-Palladius all died within a year. He dropped out at age 21 and took over the family business, a Greek-American newspaper, The Prometheus. Dad was no businessman. He was a socialist (eventually the Secretary-Treasurer of the San Francisco Socialist Labor Party), and later an ardent Democrat. The business failed, but not before he met Artemis Pagonis when he was traveling the west coast to collect subscription money. They married within two weeks, quickly had a child (my humble self) and eventually got into the war effort by working at the Kaiser Richmond shipyards building Victory Ships.
He moved the family to Brooklyn just after the War to enter into a promised partnership in a printing company owned, in Manhattan, by his cousin George Pavellas. It was a ruse, and dad became a slave. It was an awful time for him and our small family, away from all friends and relatives, trapped in a seedy part of Brooklyn with dad enslaved by his cousin. Dads only hope for escape was to get a Printers Union card, which he finally was able to do and we escaped back to San Francisco 5-1/2 years after our arrival (January 1946-Summer, 1951).
Dad started working for the San Francisco Examiner as a linotypist and eventually became the typographical Unions chairman for the chapel of The Examiner. We lived first in San Francisco, then in Berkeley so I could go to Berkeley High School as he did. After I graduated High school and eventually joined the US Navy, Dad, Mom & Diane moved back to San Francisco in the Richmond District. After mustering out of the Navy at age 21, I moved back with the family to attend San Francisco City College. A year later I married a local girl, who also joined us in the Richmond district flat. Dad decided to buy his first house to accommodate us all, and it was to be the fateful move to 62 Theta Avenue, Daly City.
After many years in Daly City, dad ultimately retired to San Jose and tended his garden so well, that others asked him to do theirs and he was in business againat no profit. Once a socialist, always a socialist, it seems, at least for dad. He had just turned 88 when he died at home, in the bosom of his small nuclear family. All three of us were there with him at the end.
Please see the text accompanying most of the pictures, which will add content to this biography.
Early Days in Daly City (ca. 1960) duirng a family celebration. Mom's brother, Harry Pagonis in on the right. We lived with Uncle Harry and his family on Silver Avenue in San Francisco for the first six months after we came back from Brooklyn.
Early Days in Daly City (ca. 1960) duirng a family celebration. Mom's brother, Harry Pagonis in on the right. We lived with Uncle Harry and his family on Silver Avenue in San Francisco for the first six months after we came back from Brooklyn.
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