Memoirs of Peter Boudoures Chapter 15 AHEPA

Peter Boudoures 1931 AHEPA Photo

During my absence, the order of AHEPA had expanded to form the Golden Gate Chapter in San Francisco. As I mentioned before, it was organized originally in Atlanta, Georgia, with the purpose of uniting the Greeks and to help them become better citizens. In 1928, I suggested to some of my friends who were members of the Order of Klossa, that it was time that we act to join the Order of AHEPA. I argued that, instead of us working in a small circle of forty or fifty people, we should join hands with thousands of other Greeks all over the country. We could learn more and do more, locally and nationally. It was quite a job convincing them; and, was not accomplished easily. It took almost a year. Finally, after it had been defeated several times, the question was again brought to a vote, and it passed. Most of the members agreed to join AHEPA. Many did not.

Funny as it might sound, a few members of Klossa, including me, were not allowed to join the Golden Gate Chapter of AHEPA. We were blackballed. The reason, I imagine, was jealousy and personal animosity. So, I figured that since Klossa didn't want to join AHEPA as a body, and since some of its members were blackballed, we should act to establish a second AHEPA chapter in San Francisco. Eventually, a new charter was granted to us. Some twenty-five to thirty members of Klossa, together with others, formed the Pacific Chapter of the Order of AHEPA.

Our first president was Theodore Andronicos. He was a learned Greek, an eloquent speaker, and very well liked. He was what we called the modern Demosthenes of the Greeks of the West. In 1929 he attended, with our other delegates, the AHEPA convention in Kansas City, Missouri. Upon his return he gave a very fine report. It convinced me that we should bid for the convention for 1931. We could use it as a means of inducing the few members of Klossa who were holding out to join the AHEPA. In 1930 the convention was in Boston, where again, Theodore Andronico represented the Pacific Chapter. The delegates in Boston voted to hold the 1931 convention in San Francisco. That convinced the forty or so remaining members of Klossa to be initiated into the AHEPA at the national convention in August of 1931. The convention was a great success.

I learned a lot during this convention. I became better known among the members of AHEPA and among the better element of the Greeks throughout the United States. I became what people would call a crusader, one who fought for what he believed, one who never cared for the glory part of elected office. I never helped anyone run for office unless I felt that he'd be the proper person for the job, one who could do well and who had the time and resources to do it right. I wouldn't support a candidate just because he was a friend or a relative or because he came from the same part of Greece from where I came.

I became very active in the AHEPA and I attended every District and National Convention for the next eighteen years in succession. It became an obsession with me. I believed that our organization could render tremendous service to the Greeks.