A Tribute to Our Parish History

The existence of our Church and our Parish is the result of many years of tireless and loving work by a small group of dedicated people, to whom we owe a debt of gratitude. Originally, in1981, local Orthodox came together, as Archangel Michael Greek Orthodox Church, for worship services in our Cantonis Parish Center. Though this arrangement was adequate, they longed to create a Church structure that glorified the Lord, so they created a building committee and spent several years planning for the new building.

The building committee who planned and executed the construction of our beautiful Church included: The Rev. Fr. Demetrios Simeonidis Parish Priest - ex-officio, Mr. Richard Lovelace, President - ex-officio, Mr. Stephan Ponticos, Chairman, Dr. George Mavros, Co-Chairman, Mr. Garfield Aucoin, Mr. Alexandros Dalmanieras, Mr. George Kanaris and Mrs. Diane Minnelli, representing Philoptochos. 

After much work by the committee and the parish in general, ground-breaking was celebrated on February 26-27, 2005, and the new Church was opened on May 22, 2010. One fun story is that our priest at the time, Father Demitrios Simeonides, was afraid of heights, yet he rode a cherry-picker all the way up for the blessing of the cross that graces the the top of our Church building.

                        

Since the opening of our Church structure, we have continued to work on the beautification of our new building to glorify our Lord. We have a ways to go, but the Iconography is already breath-taking. In May of 2022, we installed iconostasio that will grace our altar area forever, and inspire our worship.

   

We are proud and grateful for the vision and leadership shown that moved us through the years to the completion of the Church that graces our property now from the top of a knoll, where it stands visible from the road. We invite you to come and see the results of our work over the years and join us in worship and fellowship. As for the Cantonis Parish Center, it remains a vital part of our premises as our fellowship hall and the scene for events such as Fish Fry Fridays and our Greek Festival.

 

 

We must acknowledge Dr. George S. Mavros, who to our regret, fell asleep with Our Lord on January 20, 2022. George was a driving force behind the creation and growth of Our Church. He functioned as a Sub-Deacon for many years and took care of many tasks that supported the vision of our Parish and daily operations, with quiet ease and competence. His passing left a hole in our hearts. May his memory be eternal.