Belknap Mill Society salutes Peter Karagianis's Service to Community

More than 100 admirers crowded into the Rose Chertok Hall on the third floor of the Belknap Mill Friday evening in a tribute to Peter S. Karagianis.

They were there to hear eight speakers extoll the elder Karagianis’ contributions to preserving the clean waters of central New Hampshire’s lakes, putting Laconia’s Greek Orthodox Church on solid financial footing, enhancing Laconia Motorcycle Week, and, most of all, saving the Belknap Mill from the wrecker’s ball.

It was certain, however, that everyone there had their own personal memory of the role he has played in their own lives.

As master of ceremonies, the Mill Society's executive director, John Moriarty led the tribute. He acknowledged that most in the hall knew of the absolutely vital role Karagianis played in the preservation and development of the Belknap Mill and stressed that each of the evening's speakers would focus on the community leader's other important contributions.

For those who grew up in Laconia, there was the memory of buying candy by the piece at the Laconia Spa, which Karagianis purchased when he came to the Lake City in 1945. Heads nodded up and down as speakers recalled that there were 11 or 12 pieces of candy in the bag when only 10 were requested.

Former Speaker of the New Hampshire House of Representatives George Roberts of Gilmanton was one of those who recalled the extra pieces of candy when he described going to the store with his father to pick up the out-of-town newspapers. “Peter was always the first and the last to contribute to a cause he was championing. My father described him as an honorable man,” Roberts said.

George Condodemetraky of Belmont, who met the evening’s honoree when he moved to New Hampshire in 1969, reported that Karagianis was already hard at work on ending the long-standing practice of dumping close to raw sewage into the lakes. “The campaign was conducted by the Lakes Region Clean Waters Association, a group of several hundred organized by Karagianis. The motto was ‘Don’t Do It in the Lakes’. The association fought the argument that ‘Dilution Was the Solution’, he said.

“Peter has two vitally important traits: he knows how to deal with people and he is visionary,” Condodemetraky noted. He went on to say that Karagianis and Teddy Roosevelt were alike. “They both had a vision about the importance of saving our natural resources for future generations.”

“There are those leaders,” he continued, “who want their names inscribed on bronze plaques, but the names of true leaders like Peter Karagianis are inscribed in peoples’ minds.”

Both Condodemetraky and Roberts talked about Karagianis’ role in the creation of the Winnipesaukee River Basin Project and the giant sanitary sewage collection system that it constructed primarily in the railroad right of way from Moultonborough to the treatment plant in West Franklin.

Karagianis, according to Condodemetraky, made arrangements for William Ruckelshaus, the first Administrator of the Environmental Protection Agency, to come to Laconia to talk about the project. “He volunteered to pick the EPA administrator up at the Laconia Airport, and he said he drove into Laconia 'real slow' so that he could completely explain the program to him.”

Roberts recounted the meeting with then Governor Meldrim Thomson, who explained he was vetoing H.B. 50, which authorized $50-million for the state’s share of the project, because it was too much money. “We explained that one of his good friends and supporters was going to be the general contractor on the job. The governor went into the next room. We could hear him talking on the phone. When he returned to the meeting, he ripped the last page off of the bill where the red ‘veto’ stamp was located and explained he would have that page re-typed so he could sign H.B 50 into law.”

Dick Metz of Gilford, a past president of the Belknap Mill Society, said, “I have always been impressed by Peter’s dedication to other people, and I am not worried about his age. At 93, he still has plenty of time to accomplish a lot more.

Metz recounted his service to the Greater Laconia-Weirs Beach Chamber of Commerce (now the Lakes Region Chamber of Commerce), which he served as president in 1986. His name is also inscribed on the trophy for the prestigious James Irwin Award for Community Service.

“If you ever saw Karagianis wearing his Red Hat”, Metz said, “it was a signal he was on a fundraising mission. He has always been successful because people know that he is the first and the last to make a contribution to his favored endeavors.”

Both Metz and Charlie St. Clair acknowledged Karagianis’ contributions to Laconia Motorcycle Week. Metz said, “The event would not be what it is today without Peter’s hard work in the early years.”

St. Clair, who became executive director of the motorcycle week association in the early 1990s, remarked, “Wherever I turned in my early years, Peter’s name was attached to one or more elements of the event.”

Metz also presented a Kiwanis Legion of Honor certificate to Karagianis in recognition of his 60 years of membership in that service organization.

State Representative Alida Millham recalled Karagianis’ four terms as a state representative and his service as a Laconia city councilor. He also served as chair of the Belknap County Convention (which Millham currently chairs), and, she remarked, “He was a key player in the effort to have the county serve as the local government entity designated to be the conduit for the federal funds designated for preservation of the Belknap Mill.

Ann Bean, a parishioner at the Taxiarchai Greek Orthodox Church on North Main Street, remarked, ‘I found Peter to be a true friend when I moved here in 1995. He joined the church in 1945. Actually, there was no church in the physical sense, and parishioners met only once a month. He served as president of the parish from 1986 to 2002. During his tenure, the parish membership increased and the parish was put on solid financing footing.”

“He reached out to Greek families,” she continued. "He would use the phone book in search of Greek family names. Once he found one, he would call on the family and welcome them to the church. We are indebted to him for his belief in people.”

Karagianis’ 65 years as a Freemason were acknowledged by Richard Puleo, Senior Warden and Past Master of Laconia's Mt. Lebanon Lodge of Free and Accepted Mason. Puleo also recalled helping to clean out the Belknap Mill when he was a member of the Kiwanis Key Club at Laconia High School. “My two buddies — Pat Tierney and Stuart Jessup — and I finished our work and decided to explore the canal tunnel connecting the mills. We discovered huge, really giant fresh water eels in the canal. It was an Indiana Jones encounter before there was an Indiana Jones. It never would have happened to us if we had not been pressed into volunteer work by Peter.”

Karagianis’ son, S. Peter Karagianis, filled the audience in on the family history.

The family is from the small mountainside village of Georgitsi, 15 to 20 miles west of Sparta, which is located in the New England-like region of Lakonia. The elder Karagianis’ father, Soterios, immigrated to the United States in 1896 to work. He returned to Greece in 1906 to bring his bride, Maria, back to this country. The family was in the retail fruit business in downtown Boston.

Peter was born in Somerville, MA, in December 1916, and he grew up in the Central Square area of Cambridge. He graduated from Cambridge Ringe-Tech High School.

He was mentored by Fr. Iakavos, a Greek Orthodox priest who ultimately became Bishop of Boston and later Archbishop of North and South America.

Under the priest’s auspices, Karagianis established Pericles Youth Groups.

In the 1930s, he worked for Stop and Shop opening stores in Connecticut, Rhode Island, and on Cape Cod.

Because his four brothers were already in the armed services, Peter received a deferment. He worked at the General Electric plant in Lynn, MA, in the aircraft engine division. Because the outcome of the war with Japan was still in doubt, Peter was finally drafted. He never shipped out, however, because V-J day came sooner than anyone expected.

Peter S. Karagianis came to Laconia in October of 1945. He purchased the biggest little store in town — the Laconia Spa — which at that time was located at the corner of Main and Mill Streets in Downtown.

According to son S. Peter, my father has often said, “Moving to Laconia was the best thing I ever did.”

Today, father and son own and operate the Happy Jack's Cigar, Pipe & Tobacco Shop on Church Street.