Print

Email story

Comment

Email editor

Obituary

Tarpon history lived in him

He was an advocate, a friend and an astute political observer.

By ROBIN STEIN
Published February 20, 2007

TARPON SPRINGS - For 87 years, Nick Kavouklis was the man about town. He was born, bred and lived his whole life in Tarpon Springs until Sunday (Feb. 18, 2007), when his heart gave way at Helen Ellis Memorial Hospital.

But Mr. Kavouklis will not soon be forgotten by old-time denizens of the Greek coffee shops, the Spongers at Tarpon Springs High School or the local political buffs who came to know him throughout the decades here.

"He was like a history book," longtime friend Kally Tsangaris Karakos said. "He knew everything about Tarpon Springs. ... He had a terrific memory. He could tell you stories about your family or when this happened or that."

"We had a lot of fun," Mr. Kavouklis said in 1997, recalling the city when he was a young man. "Politics were pretty rough."

He described how dead people would "vote" at the polls and how politicians dispatched agents to bribe poor residents for their votes. Sometimes, he said, ballots were just plain faked.

"It was true back then," Mr. Kavouklis said, chuckling. "I know it. I could tell you so doggone much, I'd be run out of town."

With his command of local facts and figures, Mr. Kavouklis was unmatched as a tour guide, Karakos said.

But more than that, she said, Mr. Kavouklis was a self-assigned emissary, a crucial life preserver for the scores of Greek immigrants who like her father, George Tsangaris, arrived in Tarpon Springs with nothing.

Karakos said her father was a teenager when he came from Greece all alone, with no education and no relatives, and spoke no English. But there was always one friend who took care of him.

"My dad was a diver, until after the sponge industry went bad in the 1950s," she said. He went to Gary, Ind., to find a job, but soon returned, with the help of Mr. Kavouklis, who always helped him to find work.

"Nick always looked after the family," she said.

Mr. Kavouklis was born to one of the first Greek families to come to Tarpon Springs. His father and uncle opened the Lazaros Coffee Shop at 501 Athens St., a legendary haunt.

An Army veteran of World War II, Mr. Kavouklis managed projects for the state transportation agency for 32 years, then joined the federal Army Corps of Engineers and later the Azzarelli Road Construction Co.

Whatever his job, Mr. Kavouklis was always known for his passion for young people, education and sports. He had a knack of getting money for different things - politics, charity and especially local schools, where he volunteered for 60 years.

Mr. Kavouklis played tackle, both offense and defense, for Tarpon Springs High School's football team during the days of leather helmets.

As an adult, he was instrumental in getting a football and track stadium built at the school and supporting the Little League.

His wife, Ruth, said he was emphatic about pushing local boys to study, perhaps because he had wanted an education so badly himself.

"He went to University of Tampa when he was young, but he was a playboy," she said. " 'Go to school. Get your grades up, so you can get a scholarship. It's a way to get ahead in the world,' he always said.

"Many, many times he said, 'I should have gone to school and become a lawyer.' "

It would take some time, but they would eventually have an attorney in the family, their daughter, Nikki M. Kavouklis of Tarpon Springs.

On Monday, Ruth Kavouklis recalled how the two first met. It was during World War II, she was new in town, a "Cracker" from Suwannee County, she said. A relief telegraph operator for Western Union, she had just been assigned to a new post in Tarpon Springs, when Mr. Kavouklis first caught her eye in the depot.

"He was the man about town," she said. From the little telegraph office tucked in the corner, she would see him come by until one day he walked right up to her, introduced himself and asked for a date, she said.

"We went to the Pelican Restaurant in Clearwater Beach," she said. "His flamboyant style, he was a big spender."

News about the out-of-town woman riding around town in Mr. Kavouklis' green Ford coupe caused quite a stir, she said.

"We really made news because I wasn't Greek," she said. "In a couple of weeks I was kind of hooked, but we didn't get married for three months."

People presumed their marriage would be short.

"The gossip around town was, 'You married this Cracker girl,' " she said. "They predicted that it would only last six months."

Sixty-one years later, though, she was still there, standing by his hospital bed, with their three children and grandchildren, to bid him farewell.

"I couldn't ask for a better life," she said.

Mr. Kavouklis was past council president of the St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral, a member of the Tarpon Springs Oldtimers Club, Tarpon Springs Historical Society, George Washington AHEPA, Kalymnian Society, American Legion, and past president of the city's Little League.

In addition to his wife, Ruth, survivors include one son, Laz N. Kavouklis of Palm Harbor; two daughters, Kathy K. Dobies of Palm Harbor and Nikki M. Kavouklis of Tarpon Springs; a sister, Evelyn L. Contos of Joliet, Ill.; four grandchildren, Jerri Kavouklis Price of Tampa, and Nick L. Kavouklis, Andrea K. Kavouklis, and Stephanie A. Dobies, all of Palm Harbor; several nephews and one niece.

Visitation will be from 5 to 8 p.m. Wednesday at Thomas B. Dobies Funeral Home, 701 E Tarpon Ave., with a Trisagion prayer service at 5 p.m.

The funeral is 11 a.m. Thursday at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Cathedral with burial to follow at Cycadia Cemetery.

[Last modified February 20, 2007, 07:28:37]