Antonia Xidos

      After sailing to Canada from Greece on the ‘Anna Maria’, Mrs. Antonia Xidos arrived in Halifax through Immigration at Pier 21 on August 11, 1958.  She told the author: “I left my island of Milos because my fiancé had come here earlier. He was related to the Cape Breton Farmakoulas family, and first was sent to work in their Newfoundland  Koolex Kleaners operation. However, he hated it there and after two years he came to live in Nova Scotia.  First he arranged for his brothers to come to Canada, and then he arranged for me. Back home on Milos life was difficult.  My father had died of starvation in 1941 during the war, and my mother struggled with work to keep the rest of us alive.

      My first impression of Canada was not a positive one.  I remember coming out of the ship, and the only thing I could see was dense fog everywhere.  Also, the first couple of years were very difficult for me.  I did not know any English at all. I remember going to the supermarket and wanting to buy sugar, but instead I ended up buying salt! For the first few years in Canada I hated it. I was homesick and wanted desperately to return to Greece. I also remember that in our first home on Barrington Street six people used to live in a two-bedroom apartment with one kitchen and bathroom. Though the building wasn’t owned by a Greek, it seemed that almost everyone there in those apartments was Greek, and many of us worked at Koolex Kleaners in the south end of the city.” 

      [Mrs. Xidos’ daughter, Cathy Mavrogiannis, interjected here: “I still meet older Greek ladies who remind me that they used to take care of me for my mother when she was working, and then she would do the same for their children.  So I had a whole set of other ‘mothers’ who have remained close to us all these years.”]

      Mrs. Xidos continued: “Eventually we opened Ship Shape, a laundry/dry cleaning business in Eastern Passage outside Dartmouth which had an apartment for us upstairs. After renting the premises for a time, we bought the building. Back then the Greek community was very small, but we were very close to one another.  Every Sunday we went to church and I often had parties for our Greek friends. Gradually things became easier for us, but we have also have had some real troubles in our life here. One of my little sons died in hospital. It nearly broke my heart. In 1966 there was a fire at the business, and everything went up in flames. We started again, but in 1991 we had another fire caused by arson, which again destroyed everything we owned. However, we rebuilt the building and business still again.  This time we bought a home near my daughter’s house, because we wanted to be closer to her and her family. Now I am so terrified of fire that I can’t bear to live near the business again. Presently our laundry and dry cleaning business is doing very well.  It has really expanded, and all our children are involved in some aspect of it. I go there every day, because it gives me the opportunity to stay in contact with our customers.”

      Mrs. Xidos ended the interview by saying, “Although we do not have much free time, we always try to help the Greek community in any way we can.  My husband used to help with the Greek school, we contribute our money, and I bake for all the different events. In conclusion, I do not regret the decision to come to Canada, though at times it has been very hard. Because of the first fire at Ship Shape we had to delay our planned trip home, and my dear mother died before I was able to get to Milos. In Canada my children have received a good education and two of them have university degrees. They have made good lives for themselves and their children.  Now Canada is ‘home’, but I still try to visit our relatives in Greece with a trip there every two years.”