IKEY DIED SUNDAY
If a majority of the older citizens of Marion were told that Achilas Karathanos had died, they might stop for a minute to think who had died. But, if they were told that “Ikey, the Greek” had died there would be a surge of sadness.
Ikey was affectionately known by almost everyone. A few months ago he and his partners sold the Gem Café and he has been in semi-retirement since. Ikey was known and loved because he made himself one of the community.
There is probably no one who attended more Marion high school athletic games than ikey, he attended every one of the games and he was the friend of all the athletes as well as the students.
Ikey was not the first Greek citizen to come to Marion, but he was the one responsible for the others coming here. A group of Greek citizens working in a shoe factory in the east sent one of their family scouting for a location and Mike Gravannis landed in Marion, made friends and stayed here, he is buried here.
Arthur Gravannis and then John Azemis came here and opened the Marion Candy Kitchen on West Main Street with Ikey remaining at work in the shoe factory and sending them money all the time to improve their business until it would support them all. The Candy Kitchen, because it was operated as a clean establishment with a wholesome atmosphere became the gathering place of students for many, many years.
When World War I started, none of the Greek boys asked to be deferred and both Arthur and John were called in the draft, although they could have been exempted as aliens. As a result of their overseas military service both later became responsible American citizens. At that time the Greek residents of Marion owned and operated eleven different industries from a shoe shining parlor to two confectionaries and a cheese factory.
Ikey asked no exemption when his name came before the draft board, but it is stated on good authority that the late Judge Rufus Neely, then head of the draft board, made the statement that Ikey was a much more loyal citizen than many of the other native born and Neely personally placed his name in a deferred classification because of his business responsibilities.
Marion and community have lost a fine citizen, one who in his more active years contributed much to support our schools and our fine young people. We need more of his type, American born or foreign born, and we pause to pay this final respect to one who became a true American citizen.
(Tribute to Ikey published in the Marion Daily Republican, by Oldham Paisley)
Achilas Demetrius Karathanos, a.k.a. “Ikey” operator of the Gem Café in Marion for 40 years was found dead Sunday, September 5, 1965 of an apparent heart attack.
He was invited to have dinner with Luke Johnson. When he did not arrive Johnson went to the home of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Baumler, 704 N. Van Buren St., where Mr. Karathanos was a boarder.
The Baumlers were gone on a holiday weekend trip, Johnson found no one at home. The Baumlers later found Mr. Karathanos in the bathroom. Police said he may have died Saturday.
Mr. Karathanos became an owner of the Gem Café, 103 N. Market St. just off the Public Square in 1925. A restaurant has been in operation at the site since 1901. Mr. Karathanos was associated in operation of the restaurant with several men, including Charles Dumas and Alex Statos in recent years. The business was sold to Wayland Sims in February 1965 and is now known as The Uptowner.
Mr. Karathanos, 74, operated the Marion Candy Kitchen about 10 years before taking over the Gem Café. He fed four generations of Marion families.
Mr. Karathanos was born in Argor Orestikor, Macedonia. He was a Member of the Greek Orthodox Church of East St. Louis, Williamson County Farm Bureau and the Marion Elks Lodge.
He leaves a nephew, Jimmy Karathanos, who lived with him and attends Southern Illinois University, a niece, Miss Aciemina Karathanos of Greece; sister in law, Mrs. Anthe Karathanos of Greece; and cousin Mrs. Haido Floras of Nashua, N.H.
(Obit extracted from the Southern Illinoisan, September 7, 1965.)
Achiles Demetrius Karathanos better known as “Ikey” was found dead Sunday at the home of Mr. & Mrs. Charles Baumler, 704 N. Van Buren, where he had roomed for the past 45 years. When Ikey came to Marion to join relatives in the ownership of the Marion Candy Kitchen, he went to live with Mrs. Baumler’s father, the late J. Milton Norman, and lived in the same room the rest of his life.
Sunday morning when Ikey failed to report at the Luke Johnson home for dinner, as had been his custom since selling the Gem Café earlier this year, they called the Baumler home. The Baumlers had been in St. Louis, but after the call, discovered Ikey dead in the bathroom. He had evidently been dead for several hours as Larry Sims, another roomer said he had seen the deceased in the bathroom the he left home earlier Sunday morning.
Karathanos was born in Agor Orestikor in Macedonia, when it was under Turkish and later Greek rule. He later renounced the Turkish and Greek citizenship to become an American citizen. He was naturalized in 1925.
He left his native home at the age of 14 and moved to Lowell, Mass., working in a textile mill at $3.65 a week. He later worked in a shoe factory in Manchester, New Hampshire and came to Marion in 1913.
A nephew, Jimmy Karathanos, is returning by air from Greece, planning to resume graduate studies at SIU. The trip had been financed by the deceased uncle, who brought him here to “get some of the education I didn’t get.” Jimmy learned to speak fluent English and credits Mrs. Ray Cagle and Dr. Robert Wallace of the Marion high School for that fact, which made it possible for him to receive outstanding grades at SIU, where he graduated this year.
Ikey would have been 73 years of age on December 20 of this year. He was never married. He has aided many members of his family to get better educations.
A sister died in St. Louis in 1955 and the brother (father of Jimmy) died in Greece in about 1961. Jimmy’s mother, Mrs. Nick Karathanos and a younger sister Acmina Karathanos live in Greece. A cousin, Mrs. Haido Floras lives in Nashua, New Hampshire.
Funeral arrangements at the Wilson Funeral Home will not be made until the arrival of Jimmy Karathanos, who was to leave Greece Tuesday and due back in Chicago by air on Wednesday (the 8th).
(Obit extracted from the Marion Daily Republican, September 7, 1965)
Ikey’s naturalization records from Williamson County indicated that his birth date was May 3, 1895. He was born in Grupita, Turkey and emigrated from Patros, Greece on October 10, 1908. He arrived in New York harbor on October 28, 1908 aboard the ship “Martha Washington” and declared his intent to naturalize on January 12, 1922 as witnessed by William Wohlwend a Marion insurance salesman and W.O. Paisley, owner and editor of the Marion Daily Republican newspaper.
Ikey was buried in Maplewood Cemetery in Marion
(Post compiled by Sam Lattuca on 8/3/2024)