Zaferis-Sellas
Demetri Zaferis was born in 1881 to a large family in area of Ayios Yiannis where Astros is located. He came to the United States in 1900 and began working on the railroads in Chicago. While working on the railroads someone told him to go to California, the land of opportunity. He traveled to California and settled in Los Angeles, where he became involved in the meat business. That didn’t last long before he went into produce. Demetri owned groves growing lettuce and melons in the Imperial Valley. He mastered not only English but also Spanish. He was naturalized in 1910.
On one of his trips back to Astros, he saw a girl and fell madly in love. Vasiliki Papachristos was from Paralion Astros Kinourias. He did not marry her on his first trip back but he pursued her as best he could from afar. Vasiliki was married when she was 26 which was late for that time. Every time her parents arranged a proxenia for her it would fall through because someone from the Zaferis family would appear. In 1913, Demetri was successful in gaining her hand in marriage. Vasiliki traveled by boat with her father to the United States to get married. Her mother saw them off in Greece. She stood at the port throwing flowers petals to her daughter because she was a bride going to a new world. That was the last time Vasiliki saw her mother. She never returned to Greece.
Adjusting to this new country was difficult for her. Her husband intercepted one of the letters she wrote to her family back in Greece and read that she was sad and lonely. Wanting to make his wife happy, he sent for her two sisters and helped them settle in Los Angeles. Eventually all of her brothers and sisters came except one sister who remained in Astros to take care of their parents.
Demetri and Vasiliki were one of the founding families of the Church of the Annunciation on St. Julian Street, which later became St. Sophia Cathedral in Los Angeles. Vasiliki would make the Prosfora every Sunday and be at church in time for Orthros. She was an extremely prayerful woman. God came first. She never started or ended the day without spending time saying her prayers and reading the daily scriptures.
Family was extremely important to them. Demetri and Vasiliki had five children, Sophie, Peter, George, Ernie and Mary. Through the years, they would often find themselves living not only with their children but with some of their siblings and their families. Even after their children were married and had moved away, everyone would come home for Sunday dinner after church.
Demetri passed away at 83 years old in 1963 and Vasiliki in 1971 at 84 years old. They left their children and grandchildren with a legacy of understanding that God came first, and that success wasn’t measured financially but by love for God and family.
