Jennie Markadonis Chronis Rowe
Passed on: May 29th, 2008
Aunt Jennie passed away yesterday, Thursday, May 29, 2008, at Seaview Manor, her home for the last five years, where she had all the love and caring help of its staff and her close family. She leaves behind her son, Billy Chronis; daughter, Eleni (Darrel) Wade; former daughter-in-law, Angie Yorke; her only sister, Mary (Nick) Vihos; niece, Helen Xidos and her family, Cleo and John Xidos and their families who were so close to her; nephews, George, Von and Nick (John and Niki Markadonis’s children) George and Ergina (children of Tony and Flora Markadonis), all of Ilinois, and the children and the families of her second husband, Clarance Rowe, who predeceased her in 1994; sisters-in-law, Niki and Flora, who live in the States and by her grandchildren of her first marriage to Themis Chronis, who predeceased her in 2000, Jeremy Chronis (Billy and Angie’s son) and recently born Cayden William Richard McNeil; Jason Wade and Melina Wade Eleni’s children and her three great-grandchildren Rebeka (age 5), Sarah (age 3) and Benjamin Wade (age 1) from her grandson Jason and his wife Natasha (Muise) Wade in Greenwood, N.S. Jennie was also Godmother to three children, Maria Chronis Dikaios, Halifax, daughter of her brother-in-law, Louis (Kelly) Chronis, Glace Bay, Ergina Markadonis O’connor, daughter of her brother, Tony and Flora Markadonis and Nick Kachafanas, son of Vince and Kay Kachafanas and her beloved friends in the small Greek Community. Jennie was our ‘Bay Girl’ as she was the only child of George and Helen (Sifnakis) Markadonis (parents) who was born in Glace Bay. All of her siblings were born in Greece. Jennie worked all her life in Glace Bay in the Markadonis and Sons Building with her sister, Mary and brothers, Tony, John and Steve. She knew so many people in Glace Bay where she worked and shopped on Commercial Street everyday of her life. Many remember her and befriended her and she loved being part ‘the Bay’ theme. She loved music and played the piano. Music constantly filled her home and her heart and the hearts of all who partied with her. Needless to say, ‘Aunt Jennie’ will be missed so very much by all her neighbours and friends of both her Greek Community and the Cape Breton Community that were privileged to have known and loved her. She gave so much of herself as a loving, caring person and in a warm and everlasting way. She will not be easily forgotten. Jennie was predeceased by a brother, Emmanuel, who died at sea when her family left Greece for Canada in 1917; and by her father, George Markadonis who had left for America with her brother, Steve, in 1914 and landed in Nova Scotia. George built his business in the Markadonis Block in the 1930s, and died in February of 1947. Her mother, Helen, died on Jan. 1, 1958, and her sister-in-law, Cleoniki Chrisovergis (Steve’s wife) died in 1934. Steve ‘The Bay Boy’, was with her most of his life until he died in 1990. Her other two brothers, John and Tony, predeceased her in the late 1980s in the States, where they had moved after their marriages. Her youngest brother, Nick, died in Sydney in 1987, having spent most of his life in Dartmouth. Visitation for Jennie will be held at Curry’s Funeral Homes, Glace Bay, Sunday June 1, from 2-4 and 7-9 p.m. Monday, June 2, a pre-reception for friends, family, relatives, and whoever may wish to attend funeral services will take place 2:30-4:45 p.m. at Curry’s Funeral Home. Funeral services will take place at 5 p.m. at St. Anargyree Church on Marconi Street, Glace Bay. This church was built on the foundation which was her Father’s garden, donated by him after his death to the Greek Community for the purpose of building the St. Anargyree Church to serve the Eastern Orthodox Faith. Jennie’s close friend and family relative, Katherine Farmakoulas, is president of the Greek Community and has nourished the strength of this church to this day the wishes of the Greek Community and the rites of the Eastern Orthodox Faith. Burial will take place at Greenhouse Cemetery in Glace Bay, where Jennie will be buried with her parents and brother, Nick, in the family plot. Flowers will be arranged by the family. Donations will be greatly appreciated by all the community for St. Anargyree Church, Marconi Street, Glace Bay. Jennie gave her services by playing the organ in her church and always lighting the candles upon request for prayers she so strongly believed in. Goodbye Aunt Jennie. You are now free to enjoy love eternally.
