JOHN N. KYRIACOU
(1888-1971)

Photo (1916) of John N. Kyriacou (1888-1971)
in Thessalonica (standing in the center) together with fellow-combatants

John N. Kyriacou was born at Lepanto (Nafpaktos) and was the son of Nicolas Kyriacou and his second wife Anastasia Koitsanos.  His father came from the village of Goliades (today Gymnotopos) in Epirus and his mother from the village of Vetolista (today Terpsithea) in Nafpaktis, western Greece.  He took part in the 1912-1913 Balkan Wars and was awarded the commemorative medals from the campaign (that of the Greco-Turkish War with the Ioannina battle clasp and that of the Greco-Bulgarian War with the Kilkis-Lachana, Beles and Kresna-Djumaja battle clasps).  After being demobilized (1916) he settled in Alexandria, Egypt, where in 1917 he married Persephone C. Papanicolaou (1898-1941).  He successfully practiced there as a merchant tailor and was for many years chairman of the Alexandria Merchant Tailors' Guild.  In 1940, while on a family holiday in Greece, the outbreak of war prevented him from returning to Egypt.  He also lost his wife prematurely at the same time.  Following the end of World War II he remained in Athens to continue his professional activities.  In 1950 he married for a second time to Stamatina Ghini.  He passed away in Athens.

Diploma awarded by the order of King Constantine I (1868-1923) of the 1912-1913 Balkan War Medals to John N. Kyriacou (1988-1971), signed by the Prime Minister and Minister of War Eleftherios K. Venizelos (1864-1936).  The corresponding battle clasps are attached to the medals

PERSEPHONE C. PAPANICOLAOU
(1898-1941)

Persephone C. Papanicolaou was the first-born daughter of Constantine G. Papanicolaou (1863-1935) and Angélique M. Calouda (1879-1912).  She was born in Lidoriki in central Greece, where her father was appointed Justice of the Peace, following the family tradition.  The latter, who was a graduate of the Law School of the University of Athens, was originally from the village of Drestina or Drestena (today Tristeno) at Doris and his family name was originally Facalos (The change of name was due to his grand-father's status, the priest -papa- Nicolas Facalos).  After also having served in Larissa, Thessaly, he resigned from the judiciary and migrated with his family to Egypt, where he settled as a landowner at Tewfikia by Kafr El Zayat and traded fertilizers, cotton, iron and timber.  Following the premature death of her mother, who came from the island of Chios, her father remarried to Calliope Arvanitakis.