Giorgios "George" Dimitrios Diakoumopoulos was born Sep 2, 1932 in the village of Gargaliani, Greece. The Great Depression and World War II did not allow him to attend school past the third grade. As was typical in those times, George worked from a very young age in order to help provide for his parents and three siblings -- his eldest sibling being able to ultimately graduate as an elementary school teacher in Athens. Around 1945, George met the love of his life, Ioanna "Giovanna" Vagenas who became his wife on December 29, 1960. In 1965, with his wife and his two young children in tow, (Eleni, age 3 and Dimitri age 18 months) he made his way to Australia and then ultimately to the U.S. in 1971 to seek a better life. Our dad worked on a GM assembly line in Van Nuys and as a mechanic in his "spare time" to make ends meet. When the gas crunch in 1974 caused him to be laid off from GM, he didn't worry. With no education and knowing very little English, he secured a small business loan and purchased a local gas station in Highland Park which improved our lives and afforded more opportunities to his family. In 1979, he moved his family back to Greece for a fresh start. After a few regime changes and a downturn in the Greek economy, our parents moved back to the U.S. in late 1985 where they spent the rest of their lives together until George passed away peacefully in his sleep on January 5th, 2023 at the ripe old age of 90 with Giovanna, the love of his life, at his side as she has been for the previous 75 years. He left behind his beloved wife, his children, Eleni and Dimitri and his 4 grandchildren, Georgios, Barbara, George and Alexander.
