Never Marry A Greek: Kansas Baptist Marries New England Greek

By Ruth Sloat Markos

It’s “My Big Fat Greek Wedding” all over again, only this time from the non-Greek view point. When the Baptist girl from Kansas marries a New England Greek boy, she realizes she is NOT in Kansas anymore!!! Following is a fun filled account of not only cultural and religious differences, but the difference between being raised in the Mid-West vs New England. Jim is from a large family. This book is about his father’s family being raised between the World War’s. His father, his aunt, and as well as his 7 uncles are each character’s in their own right. These are stories about this family that she has heard and laughed about many times over the years, and more stories were added as time went on. These accounts are much too funny to let them die with the next generation.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Outskirts Press
• Release date: Aug 1, 2023
• ISBN: 9781977251848

Ruth Sloat Markos

Ruth Sloat Markos was raised in Manhattan, KS. She graduated with a teaching degree from Ottawa University in Ottawa, KS, where she met her to be husband, Jim Markos. She taught Art to Jr. and Senior High School in Junction City, Manhattan, and Leon, KS. She married Jim (a Greek from Massachusetts) and raised 3 children. She retired from teaching in 2006, but continues to substitute teach in the small country school where her husband was Superintendent. They still live in the country outside of Topeka, KS with their puppy dog Jo Jo, 2 cats, and many wild animals that show up to “visit”, including a mountain lion!! 

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Never Marry A Greek

Kansas Baptist marries New England Greek

All Rights Reserved.

Copyright © 2023 Ruth Sloat Markos....Not A Greek

v3.0

The opinions expressed in this manuscript are solely the opinions of the author and do not represent the opinions or thoughts of the publisher. The author has represented and warranted full ownership and/or legal right to publish all the materials in this book.

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PRINTED IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA

RUTH ANN SLOAT

(To become RUTH MARKOS)

October 26, 1948

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Chapter 1: Stuff You Need to Know About Me

Chapter 2: Stuff You Need to Know About Jim

Chapter 3: My First Impressions of Newburyport

Chapter 4: Plumb Island

Chapter 5: First Impressions of Jim’s Home

Chapter 6: First Impressions of Jim’s Family

Chapter 7: The Wedding ……1970

Chapter 8: The Greek Family Tree

Chapter 9: Papou and Yia Yia (Athanasios and Chrisafo Markos)

Chapter 10: Christos (Chris) Arthur Markos 1912-1968

Chapter 11: Lambros Arthur Markos 1913- 1918 or 1919

Chapter 12: George Arthur Markos 1915 – 1980

Chapter 13: William (Bill) Arthur Markos 1916 – 1975

Chapter 14: Themistocles (Sam) Arthur Markos 1920 – 2017 The Early Years

Chapter 15: Sam Markos the Later Years

Chapter 16: Sam Markos Hospital Stories

Chapter 17: Antonios (Tony) Arthur Markos 1922-1988

Chapter 18: Apostolou (Paul) Markos 1923

Chapter 19: Frank Arthur Markos 1925 – 1990

Chapter 20: Anastasia (Anna) Markos Papadopoulos 1927 – 1987

Chapter 21: Aristotle (Teddy) Arthur Markos 1929 to 2018

Chapter 22: To Marry or Not to Marry… That is the Question!

Maps

Chapter 1

STUFF YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT ME

NEVER MARRY A Greek! How I wish someone had told me this before…..but OH NO….I had to learn it the hard way!!!! By Doing It!!!! If any of you have ever seen My Big Fat Greek Wedding, then you can identify with my husband’s family. I know, you think that was all made up…………NO WAY. It is SO true. The names are different, the faces are different, but the family is the same. Why do I say this? Am I just being unkind? Am I just exaggerating? I shall leave that up to you. After you have heard my story, you can decide for yourself.

First, you will need some information about me. Basically, it is a rather dull story, but you need to know about my background, because it relates to events to come. I was born in the year 1948 as Ruth Ann Sloat. I was the 2nd child born to Floyd B. Sloat and Bobbie Jo Best Sloat in Manhattan, Kansas. My Daddy was a Math professor at Kansas State University. (I became an art teacher. I could not understand why my friends just didn’t want to sit around and draw all the time. I once told my Dad that anyone who did math all day because they WANTED to, was demented!!!! My Dad said that Math was FUN!!!! I told him….oh no, ART is fun!!! Not Math!) My Mom was the best in the whole world. (The only thing that ever annoyed me about her was that she was always right. When she said that such and such would happen if I did so and so….it did!!! How annoying!!!) Daddy was of good German stock from the Arkansas area. Mom was a little of everything….Irish (O’Riley), German, and bunches more, also from Arkansas. Both of my parents had Masters Degrees and were late getting started with a family. World War II took my Dad overseas, and Mom was a teacher. They did not marry until after the war. By this time, they were in their 30’s. They had to get busy raising that family. (Their story is something else….but that is for another day!) I had two brothers, David E. who was 11 months older than me, and Paul B. born 19 months after me. We were raised as good Baptists. None of this sounds to exciting….it was not….but it does have an impact on what was to come! Baptists are rather straight-laced. (But I did not realized that at the time…..I thought everyone was raised the same!!!! I was SO naive!) I have NEVER heard my father cuss….not once. My Mom would once in a while say Damn it and Daddy would tell her there was NO reason for her to talk like that!!!! Neither did they drink or smoke. I did not know about drinking, or drugs, or whatnot, because I was an idiot!!!! And SEX? Well, we won’t even go there!!!! (One of my friends from BYF (Baptist Youth Fellowship) tried to explain petting to me. She kept telling me to think about petting a soft, fluffy kitty…..all I could think of was why would you pet my head? I told her years later at a High School Reunion that she should have just SHOWED me….that would have sunk in!!!!) Should I tell my readers that I am very blond and blue eyed? Every blond joke could have been used on me….but I may not have gotten them!!!!

I Graduated from Manhattan High School in 1966. It was now time to look toward College. If you did not catch the dates….this was during the Vietnam conflict. In order NOT to go into the service, you could get a deferral by going to college, so they were all full. Also, my parents wanted me to go away for at least a year. Living at home, (which I would have had to do if I went to K-State because all the dorms were full) was not what they wanted for me. They felt it was just a glorified high school, not a true college experience. My older brother David had gone away the year before to Ottawa University in Ottawa, KS. This is a small Baptist College that we were familiar with because of our church. We had spent a lot of time there during our upbringing. It was familiar to me, far enough away so you could not go home every night, but close enough that you could go home for the weekend if you wanted. I decided to also attend Ottawa University. This was the school year 1966-1967. I loved Ottawa, and did not want to come back to Kansas State as my folks expected me to. (My Dad told me that he would pay what it would cost him to send me to K-State as a Professors child, I did not realize that I could wrap my Daddy around my little finger…silly me!!!! So, I believed him!) So, I got busy getting whatever kind of scholarship’s, work, whatever I could find, and returned to Ottawa U until I graduated from there in 1970.

My freshman year, 1st semester, I roomed with a girl from back East. She then moved in with one of the girls from New York, and after much changing, I ended up with my good friend Judy from the Kansas City area. We were much alike. For example; my 1st roommate and her new one, told us that Judy and I put ourselves on pedestals’ and looked down at all the sinners beneath us. This really hurt our feelings….we NEVER thought we were better than anyone. We then made up a list of sin-full things to do to prove that we were just a bad as everyone else. Our list looked something like this:

We had to cuss at least 10 times a day. We only knew about 4 cuss words, Damn, Hell, Shit and Piss. (I knew that the F word was a bad word….but I had no clue what it meant. Who was I going to ask? Never my mother, and I did not want my friends to know I had no clue, so what to do? I finally just figured it out by myself! YEA ME. I heard a joke that I did not understand, but was thinking about why it was funny. I knew the sex act, (I wasn’t THAT slow,) and I decided that F--- must mean that!!!!)

We had to smoke 5 cigarettes a day! At our good Baptist School in 1966, girls could not smoke on Campus….just in the stairway of the dorm, and the wreck-room of the Student Union. (Girls of today have NO idea how differently girls were treated in the 50’s and 60’s. I remember playing basketball when girls could only take 3 steps and then had to pass the ball! Our poor fragile bodies couldn’t take that much excursion!!!!) We bought a pack of cigarettes, and down we went to the stairwell of the dorm to commit sin!

We had to steal something…..be a thief!!!! Off we went to Safeway, and stole an avocado. (Both Judy and I loved them. We would cut one in half, and each eat one side.) Judy picked one up, stuffed it in her pocket, (it was winter, so had on big coats.) Then we ran all the way back to the dorm thinking that the Hounds of Hell were on our heel, and with the fear of being arrested following our every step!!!!

We had to go the local hangout, the Pizza Village, and drink a beer….this we had to do at least 3 times a week!!!!

We had to cut class!!!! The only time either of us missed a class was if we were really sick, so this was a BIG deal to us.

This was our list. What became of our BEING SINNFUL plan? This is the results:

The cussing we really tried….but when to use it was a real trial. But we did try!!!!

The smoking lasted not even one cigarette. Judy turned green and went back to our room and sat on her bed with a waste basket between her legs in case she was sick. I just got really dizzy and just sat there like a bump on a log. That was our one and only tries at smoking. We decided we could be sinful without this one.

Our Stolen avocado was taken to our room. With great anticipation we cut it in half in order to share in our stolen bounty…..only to discover that it was rotten!!!! We then knew that in truth….Crime does not pay!!!! Our lives as thieves was over.

We got to the Pizza Village, ordered our pizza and a beer for each of us!!!! We both had about 1 or 2 sips and almost gagged…..what was this nasty stuff that our friends and fellow college mates swilled down in what looked like gallons!!!! IT WAS JUST PLAIN NASTY!!!! We gave our beers away to the guys sitting next to us, (College boys will drink just about anything!!!!) and ordered coke’s. Then we ate our pizza with much enjoyment!! That was the end our drinking career.

Neither Judy nor I could decide