What is it about Soultana Markou that has 25 members of her immediate family and their friends, travel from Australia and the USA to Chios, Greece, to celebrate her 100th birthday?
There is so much to this woman who deserves this respect and accolade from her family. Not only is she the Matriarch of the Markou family, she has personality, she’s funny, her memory is sharp and her story telling keeps you enthralled and entertained. She has truly earnt this honour and she will be lovingly celebrated.
Born on June 22nd on the island of Chios, the day of the summer solstice, in the now abandoned village of Agrelopo (which was her home for most of her long life), Soultana was the 5th child and eldest daughter of Petros and Eirini Markou.
A bright young girl who absorbed knowledge easily, she was somewhat fortunate to be given some education, but this was quickly ripped out from under her by her strict authoritarian father, who saw no value in school. She could have been anything she put her mind to.
Her name Soultana is a remnant of the Ottoman period that her parents and eldest brother Dimitrios were born into, strange for a Greek girl to have such a ‘Turkish’ name, but not unusual.
Her father an uneducated farmer, was astute enough to make friends with prominent and respected members of Northern Chios. Wise in his choice of godparents, he befriended the local doctor of the region and asked him to baptise his little girl. The doctor accepted on the condition he have the naming rights of the baby. Not one to throw away potential favours, Petros accepted and Soultana was given her name.
Soultana never married, a spinster all her life she was the carer of her parents and brother Hieromonk Papa Bartholomaios right up until their deaths. Her siblings, both young and old adored her and spoke of her with love and respect, especially for the sacrifice she made to care for her parents. This love filtered down to the nephews and nieces who had heard so much about her.
In 1942 aged 19, Soultana along with many other thousands of Chiotes, left the famine and starvation on the island (as a result of the occupation) and escaped to Cyprus. She lived and worked there for about 3.5 years. It was also in Cyprus where she met a young British soldier, who showed a great interest in her and she in him, but nothing eventuated for reasons unknown.
Cyprus in 1945 was the year she learnt of the heartbreaking and tragic news that her beloved younger sister Eleftheria had passed away from tuberculosis at the tender young age of 19. Devastated that she did not have a chance to say goodbye to her, she penned to her family a letter so emotional, that the heartbreak still resonates when read, almost 80 years later. The letter was dated 4/11/1945.
After the war, she returned home to Agrelopo in Chios and lived her life there. Post war migration impacted heavily on Greece and the Greek people, and her life was no different. She saw six of her siblings, five brothers and baby sister leave Greece to start a new life permanently both in Australia and the USA. Left in Greece were just two of her brothers, one living in Pireaus with his family and the other was Papa Bartholomaios.
Soultana dedicated her life to her parents and brother, but never forgot her siblings abroard. Her letters were frequent, lengthy and detailed. They were full of love and descriptions of their life, news, both good and bad of loved ones and news of those in the village, as well as its happenings. These letters were received with great enthusiasm and expectation.
As the village of Agrelopo was depleted of families, the last 4 members left were the Markou’s: Soultana, her parents and brother.
Following the death of her father in 1968, the family’s determination to stay in their beloved village was resolute, but the difficulties they faced in this isolation left them vulnerable and exposed. Left alone with her aging mother for days on end, Papa Bartholomaios would travel to other villages to fulfill his religious duties. The tragic and sudden fatality of her brother Papa Bartholomaios exposed this vulnerability.
One fateful late afternoon in March 1986, Papa Batholomaios on returning home with his heavily laden mule, met his agonising and slow death along the path he had travelled thousands of times in his lifetime. The mule slipped, and slid down the side of the hill, dragging Papa with him, tumbling and landing on him, slowly killing him. Soultana anxious of his lateness and hearing the wails of the mule in the distance, set off in darkness in search of her brother. Discovering this shocking, unbearable tragedy she was helpless to do anything about it. Returning back home she rang the church bells constantly as a sign of distress, notifying the neighbouring villagers of an emergency and to come to her aid.
His death left them with no other option but to leave and move to Kambia, the neighbouring village. So with these last residents leaving, Agrelopo was now abandoned.
After the death of her mother Eirini, Soultana now 70, lived alone in Kambia. Independent and self sufficient, she lived quietly and unassumingly, yet her family abroad never forgot her, nor she them. Her letters were her connection to them and their families. In 1988, she travelled to Australia for her late nephew Terry’s wedding. Here, some of her Australian family met her for the first time and got to know her and love her even more.
Her extensive family over the years travelled back to Greece, catching up with her, spending time and appreciating the strong, humble woman she is. They love her genuine, unpretentious nature. Not one to hold back, she always has something to say. Her honesty and story telling entertain you and without wanting to, she amuses you with her antics and mannerisms. She is so well loved and adored, idolised and even revered. Well known in the northern regions of Chios, she has made the local news and had been interviewed for the local newspaper.
When her 99th birthday passed, a simple message on social media was put out to her family, to meet in Chios on June 22nd 2023 to celebrate her 100th birthday in the village of Kambia. A personal celebration that she has never experienced in her lifetime.
Her family responded. It was time to repay this remarkable centenarian woman with the best present ever, her family.
One momentous day and celebration, a lifetime of love and A CENTURY OF SOULTANA. Happy 100th birthday Thia Soultana!
