Anna
PREVENAS was firstborn 03 Aug 1907, in Chicago, Cook County, Illinois,
to parents Peter Demetrios and
Mary (ZABSKI) PREVENAS.
Anna went to Franklin Elementary School. At age eight, after her school day, she worked in her father’s restaurant. She started as a waitress.
Anna, Jimmy, and Fani learned Greek from a tutor until their father found out they were teaching the tutor English.
"Anna was good to all of us. Every Christmas, holiday, and every birthday she would make sure every one of us got a little present or something." [*HPT]
"When I was about 12 or 13, Anna [about age 17 or 18] bought toothbrushes and toothpaste. She bought a toothbrush for herself, Fani, Jimmy, and Tommy. I was so hurt because I didn’t get a toothbrush. Now I realize she probably only had enough money for four." [*HPT]
By
the time Anna was 18, she had been totally, completely spoiled by her
father. He just adored her. She was fun, laughing. She loved to try new
dances. Anna worked for Gus HARRIS after her father went into the vegetable
business. Gus’ brother, George, came in, saw Anna, and wanted to
marry her. George HARRIS, was 36 years old and entirely different from Anna.
He was a very severe, straight-laced, old-fashioned Greek. George had to
make sure she was a virgin because that was the Greek custom. Then he
arranged with her father to marry her. Anna went along with what ever her
father said. They were married on 17 Mar 1926. She did not enjoy the
marriage her father arranged for her.
"She would say to me, 'Come, we are going to see a movie.' She would drop me off at the Chicago theatre and disappear. One time, George must have been suspicious. He came to the theater and walked up and down the aisles. He found me without her. I said, 'I think she just went to the washroom. I’ll go see if I can find her.' I called to see if she was home and she was home. Instead of getting upset, she just laughed her head off. She thought it was a big joke. She said she didn’t like the movie and just went home." [*HPT]
Their only child, Helen, was born in January, 1927.
Anna
ran the front of her husband’s restaurant. She was a tyrant boss.
She even wanted her sister, Violet, to call her Mrs. Harris. She was known
to her brothers and sisters as "The General."
The farthest Anna ever went was Starved Rock. Her and George worked in their restaurant for 18 years without a single day off! She was a very hard worker.
They lost their restaurant during the depression. Then George bought a smaller place in Rogers Park on Forest Avenue where George tended bar.
"My
mother got sick with asthma when I was in college. She spent almost
two years at St. Luke’s Presbyterian Hospital. When she got out she came for
a visit to Tucson with a school teacher friend of hers that ate in the
restaurant. The friend had relatives living in Tucson. While they were out
on the patio, my mother had such a bad asthma attack they had to put her in
an oxygen tent and send her home on the train right away." [*HHD]
"After I was married (10 Jan 1953), my parents separated. My mother got an apartment in the same building we were living in. She went to work in another restaurant." [*HHD]
She lived with Lou and Helen for many years, even while George lived there, too, sharing the same bedroom.
"She
loved listening to operas as well as all forms of music. My mother
loved to sing but she couldn’t carry a tune. She would sing and dance around
the house. She loved to do that!" [*HHD]
The Rosicrucians is a religious group that Anna joined. Anna thoroughly believed in reincarnation. The group believe if you are good in this life you will move up one step in your next life. If you are bad, you will move down one step in your next life. "They had secret experiments. My mother used to sit at night with a mirror. I don’t know what she was doing." [*HHD]
Like her mother, Anna had some psychic ability. Anna only knew that "good" or "bad" was going to happen within a few days, no details. For example: One night three weeks after Desi was born in 1955, Anna went to spend the night at her daughter’s place. She had a terrible feeling something was going to happen that would affect them all. The next day Louis’ mother, Nina Dahle, died as a result of a car accident on her way to work.
She
was extremely good to her grandchildren. In fact she was so good, she
would over do it and cause trouble in Helen and Louis’ marriage. Sometimes
she gave things that Louis objected to.
While living with her daughter’s family, Anna was very lonesome for the old family life with her brothers and sisters.
"After all those years of being geared strictly for business (make your phone call, state your business, and get off the line) Anna couldn’t understand how Dodo and I could get on the phone and just sit and talk. We finally got her used to the idea that it is a fun thing to do. So, we would call her and ask her if she had her coffee and discuss the crossword puzzles. 'Did you do Sunday’s? Well, what did you get that I didn’t get? ...' We had more fun doing the puzzles. We would be able to show off when one of us would get a word that the other one didn’t get. That was one of the big things I could do to make her day. I would call her quite often." [*HPT]
For
her last job, when Anna went to work for Mrs. Willet, she learned to
cook from Betty Crocker Cookbook and Gold Cookbook. Anna greatly admired
wealth and quality. She loved books!
This photo of eldest and youngest siblings, Anna and Katharine, was taken January, 1974.
"I was just a sophomore in high school. My alarm clock didn’t go off so I was late. I was running around trying to get ready for school. Gramma asked me to get her a couple of Tylenol because she wasn’t feeling well. When I took them in to her, she said, 'I want to say Good-Bye to you because I am going to die today.' I said, 'Oh, Grandma, you’re not going to die today.' But, she did." [*DDS]
Anna suffered for many years from asthma. She died 23 Sep 1974 of a blood clot in the lung at her daughter’s home in Lake Bluff, Lake County, Illinois.
[* DDS Dominique Dahle Schieck, *HHD Helen Harris Dahle, *HPT Helen Prevenas Thein]
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Our thanks to Marsha Bryant for graciously hosting this LANGNER Family History website on her server.