By Marc Byrne:
Family and Friends:
A couple of years ago, Yiani (owner of Berbatis) and Ilias (owner of Alexis) asked me to go fishing. I dont fish, and told them so; I think they wanted me to come along for the camaraderie, to make me a “man,” and I am dating a Greek girl; which means “I must know/learn how to fish!” It is six in the morning when Yiani picks me up, and we drive out to Ilias’ farm on Sauvie Island. Ilias jumps in the car, and we head to the Washington coast. We drive to a lighthouse south of Longview Washington park, climb down the cliffs, to a rocky outcrop maybe 30 or 40 feet above the crashing water below. They set the lines with 3 or 4 hooks each, and tossed them in the ocean. I finally get the hang of casting when I feel a tug on my line. I reel the line in and have two crabs and one fish on the same line!! Beginners luck, of course, but I was excited. We catch a few more fish and crab, and they cook them right on the rocks, in a camping stove, with olive oil and lemon juice. A good day.
Ilias went fishing yesterday, to the same place that he and Yiani had been to “fifty times before.” He was to meet some of the other Greeks to camp and fish, before Gerry went to Greece for two months, and Ilias would have to work everyday until Gerry gets back at the end of August.
He went to the cliff, put his line in and was fishing; there was another man fishing as well, not too far away. The other man turned to look back at Ilias and he was gone…the man called the coastguard…a half hour later they found Ilias, but could not revive him. My friend is gone.
Ilias, is what the Greeks call a Malacca, literally a masturbater, but translated it means more “a jerk off” or a “jerk,” but reserved mostly for friends. I have gone to Alexis Restaurant two or three times a week, for the last seven years, because my girlfriend, Daphne works there, and because I owned XV, and they were my neighbors in Oldtown. Every time I’d go into Alexis, Ilias the ever present smiling host would be there with the “hey Marco!” As I said, he is a malacca, so he would sneak behind me and poke my ribs, or pinch my arm underneath the bicep where it hurts!! or look at me from across the full bar, and mouth the words “I love you” while i try to read the paper, and wait for my girlfriend to get off work. He was just annoying, like a 14 year old, like a malacca!! He would make up stories to get people riled up, he drank too much, he was not nice to his wife and kids at times, but he was a good man, and I will miss him.
And as much of a malacca that he is, he is the closet person to me who has died. It is quite a blow. Family can be of blood, sweat or wine, my friend was of wine.
If there is a heaven, Ilias would be in the one where the sun always shines, the fishing is good, the Metaxa flows, and there are only other Malaccas.
—
Marc
the restaurant is open
Mike says
I read about your friend’s death in The Oregonian the other day. Not sure why the news caught my eye. But the story was terse and impersonal, as such stories always are — a for-the-record summary of another tragedy, another person dying too young.
Then I read your account this morning. You brought Ilias to life on the page for someone who didn’t know him, someone who otherwise would have had no interest in him or his fate. I saw you together fishing on the rocks and cutting up at the restaurant, men still boys. I suspect Ilias would like your description of him, warts and all.
Thank you. And my condolences to all who knew him.
Wayne says
I think I was just about the original customer at Alexis’ when the restaurant first opened. I had been to Greece not long before and was hungry for authentic Greek food and fun. Over the years we’ve gone to Alexis’ hundreds of times. We introduced our friends to the place and they became regular customers. We celebrated the birth of each of our three children there and now they are grown and take their friends to Alexis’ Restaurant. The Bokouros family became our family and ours became theirs. I am so sorry to hear of this loss. My heart goes out Alexis and Gerry and the whole family and to you, Marc, for your lost fishing buddy. Ilias will be missed.
Adrienne says
Thank you for that story about Ilias. It was just right. He was my neighbor and friend out here on Sauvie Island. Our children grew up together at the little school. His wife Kris is a wonderful, easy going person who was the perfect match for him. Ilias was just as described. He loved to tease and really got a kick out of driving up behind me when I was running and then blasting his horn, scaring the living hell out of me. Or, he would swerve his car if he saw me coming in mine, laughing and waving. When he was training horses on his farm, he’d holler at me to come in and ride the wildest one. He loved to tease and he was great fun. He was also tremendously gracious and warm. I wrote this poem about him. He will be greatly missed.
Ilias
By Adrienne Keith
Bonfire of humanity
we stood in your glow
warming ourselves
against your
expansive spirit.
Yours was never
a half empty life
and for us
you made sure
the glass was always full.
This is what
it looks like
to have lived well,
worked hard
and loved deeply.
A body can’t contain
such a big soul
forever.
It’s like trying to lasso
a piece of the sky.
But like the sky
such souls spread
onward and outward
and teach the rest of us
how to fly.
Maggie says
Ilias touched so many, his niece Lela is my best friend, and I have only just returned from the greek prayer services at the church. Ilias was an amazing guy who was so full of life- he always lived to the fullest and truly did not give a shit about what others thought, as long as he was having a good time. Whether he was smirking, joking and hitting on all the ladies from the bar of Alexis, to being ont he farm working on some project or another he was always a character. He was always known as “lela’s crazy uncle Ilias” and we will live on as such.
Thank you for the poem
Maggie