Spyros Kass

The Palikari Project: Part IV – Legacy

The Palikari Project: Part IV – Legacy | As the curtain comes down on the Palikari Project, our hero returns home to his family’s village for the first time in almost 40 years with his sons, John, Peter, & Nick. We also get insight into what the boys were experiencing as twenty-somethings seeing their father’s legacy come to life in the form of the joy & love pouring out of the ‘villageneers’ in Rizes. And finally, Betty Kass -John’s lovely wife, takes us back to the beginning when she was a young artist trying to bring the Palikari to life, hoping to share it with the world.

Read more about John Kass’ father here – The Palikari Project: Voice of My Father
Listen to The Palikari Project: Part I – Rizes
Listen to The Palikari Project: Part II – Occupation & Communists
Listen to The Palikari Project: Part III – Civil War & a Fresh Start

About The Palikari Project: Thirty-five years ago in Oak Lawn, John Kass & his brother Nicholas set a card table with coffee, cigarettes, & a tap recorder, hoping to capture their family’s story from a primary source, their father, Spyros John Kass. The tapes were part of an art project John’s wife Betty put together, a ballet. But the tapes were thought lost and the voice of the Kass patriarch with them after his death in 1992.

Check out more from Kass at JohnKassNews.com or contact me at john@johnkassnews.com, or Facebook, or on X (Twitter). Tell your friends about us. Join the great adventure. Subscribe today! And read writings from John’s brother Nick for the American Conservative here and here.

Comments 12

  1. Congratulations. So proud of your Heritage and so proud that your boys are also proud of you and where your roots are from and your Honor and Integrity.

  3. I am so envious of you John! Never having a father myself, I was so envious of the other boys who had Dads. Your Dad was exceptional. What a character, as we would say. The South Side was an interesting place to grow up in, wasn’t it? We’d sit around on porches on summer nights listening to Sox games on old Zenith radios, surrounded by old men telling their stories, every word of which I’d hang on. Living in 6 flats where you became closer to the folks next door than even your own family. Congratulations on the Palikari Project! Job well done.

  4. History comes alive through your Father’s voice and words.
    Thank you again for sharing these personal Family stories.
    We are fortunate to be Americans and live in this country.
    God Bless you all.

  6. John, A few years back you wrote a column about working in the family grocery, and somehow you became irritated by a picky customer. You told your dad and he brought you in the back of the store and sat you down and knocked on your head, as if to say “wake up dummy.” He then explained to you the whole idea of cherishing the customer, as the most basic tenet of running a business. It was meaningful to me then, but has taken on a whole different perspective after getting to know your dad over these past few weeks. Thanks for sharing this very personal but universally relatable oral history.

Leave a Reply