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Welcome to our Family History page! We didn't know how or when to begin our story and what would be of interest to anyone, other than probably our kids when they got to be old enough to read this! So, let's start with the head of the household (ahem!), Andrew Michael Papadakis. Andrew was born on June 3, 1971 at Margaret Hague Hospital in Jersey City, NJ as the second son to his mom and pop, Kalliopi Zavolas and Michael Papadakis. His older brother George was nearly three years old and all were living in an apartment building that has now been converted to a seniors assisted living community (203 Academy Street). Andrew’s father had immigrated to the United States as a teenager and after serving his country proudly during the Vietnam War, returned home to Karpathos to marry his mother after the two first met sharing a car ride between villages. When he 7 years old, he became the big brother and second father to his twin siblings, Mark and Faye who were born on New Year's Day, Jan.1, 1979. He had a ton of fun taking them to grammar school at Martin Luther King Jr. (PS #11) until he went onto attend Academic High School in Jersey City. After attending Rutgers from 1989-93 to secure his bachelors degrees in Finance and Economics, he found his calling in law where he headed off to school again to the University of Arkansas from 1993-96. But being the masochist he can sometimes be, he completed his legal education at the Georgetown Law Center for his LLM in tax. Professionally, Andrew began his career in government service as a litigator for District Counsel, the Treasury Department’s legal division for the Internal Revenue Service. Latter, he also served as a Special Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Department of Justice’s civil tax division until he resigned his government commission to join PricewaterhouseCooers LLP M&A group in 2001, in Chicago. He transferred to the NYC office in Sept 2001, where he is currently a Partner. and then there's the new mama in the world, Julie Chon Papadakis! As you all know, Julie isn't Greek ;-P She was born in the port town of Pusan in South Korea on October 17, 1970. Yes, for those of you calculating she's 10 months older than the hubby and 10 years more mature! She immigrated to Durham, NC in the US with her mom, Neeta and her dad John, older sister Alexandra and eldest brother John, in 1974, when she was a teeny 4 years old. They first arrived in North Carolina and moved later to Baltimore, Maryland, where they started the grocery business. Actually, Julie's parents were one of the original Korean grocery store owners in Maryland and actually was interviewed by Oprah Winfrey (when she was a local news journalist for Baltimore) as the first Korean immigrants in Baltimore to become naturalized citizens. Julie's family eventually moved to the quiet town of Timonium, Maryland. Yes, the epitome of surburban life where everything was predictable, good or bad - not much drama, not many good restaurants, not much goin' on except the antics and imagination of a very curious little girl. She went to Pot Spring Elementary School, McDonogh for a year, Ridgely Junior, then Dulaney High School. She also found her passion and life's dedication to the ballet at Peabody and then eventually at Washington Ballet, where she was an understudy. But as life teaches the tough way, she realized her dreams of becoming a prima donna fell abysmally alongside her weak knees (Osgood Schletter's Syndrome) and weak ankles. That's life kiddo. She finally decided to get a college degree at University of Maryland College Park (Chemistry/Microbiology) and then transferred to Arnold & Marie Schwartz College of Pharmacy in Brooklyn, New York for a career in Pharmacy. If you're thinking, WHY PHARMACY??, well yes, she asked herself the same question for 3 years! Actually, while she was doing a coop program at College Park, she was stationed in the pharmacy department at NIH in Bethesda. There, she was greatly influenced by the many kind and encouraging pharmacists who convinced her to just apply and go. So that's history. After graduating, she moved back down to Maryland and worked for Rite Aid for a year and then, worked in sales for Merck in the DC area/suburbs. After a couple of years of hosting doctor dinners, she decided to move back to NYC and work for Pfizer Inc. Still there folks. Currently, she's an Associate Director in the Cardiovascular Metabolic Diseases Group in Regulatory Analysis & Documentation. In other words, she produces reports that assist in fulfilling regulatory requirements and submissions for Pfizer's heart and metabolic products. Where have all the years gone? NOW FOR THE JUICEY PART OF THE STORY.............BOY MEETS GIRL. Back in 1998, when Julie moved to NYC for her job with Pfizer, she sublet an apartment from a friend, Rob Williams - who also happened to be a good friend of Andrew's. In the mire and straits of a tax audit her parents were undergoing, she felt like a damsel in distress. Robert suggested she speak with his good friend Andrew, who at the time was working for the IRS as a tax attorney in Nashville. Well, heaven behold, Julie immediately contacted Andrew and thus the first conversation began. It was all business, but of course Julie couldn't help but wonder who this incredibly kind, generous and compassionate man was?? Andrew always insisted that his services were free, cause whoever was a friend of Rob's was a friend of his. It was too good to be true! Over the next 3-4 years, they met during Andrew's brief visits to NY and kept a long distance friendship as Andrew moved to Chicago. Finally, when Andrew moved to NY in September 2001 as a transfer for PricewaterHouse Coopers, she tried to set him up with one of her girlfriends. Well, that night Andrew lost control of his senses and admitted his crush on Julie. Yes folks, it all started to unravel after some good ol' gin n'tonic!And so the fairy tale began with lots of dining, walks and rollerblading in the park, biking in the city, making dinners in, movie nights, club nights, just about everyting NYC is about. Then came the inevitable: GIRL INSISTS THAT BOY BUYS COW AND STOP STEALING THE MILK FOR FREE! Yup, that's right! So after missing strongly suggested deadlines, he popped the question on a Friday night a week before her birthday. Kneeling with diamond in hand, he swepted her away in the coziness of their apartment on the UWS NYC. Then it was the countdown to the big day. It was a stressful time, not in trying to figure our which colors the flowers were to be, but gaining the support and love from Andrew's parents and siblings. To Julie and Andrew's disappointment, the Papadakis family couldn't find the love and openness to embrace their bi-cultural bliss. So as the wedding bells chimed on Sunday, April 25, 2004 at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church in NYC, Andrew and Julie met their destiny with tears and joy - something Julie and Andrew often do together with life's dramatic moments. Nothing, absolutely nothing compared to the absolute bliss that Andrew and Julie felt, dining and dancing at Oheka Castle in Long Island that evening. Feeling like a princess, Andrew had made all of her dreams come true. But little did she know how much more Andrew would give her later. Karpathos was a place that was always deeply and fondly in Andrew’s heart. Since he had spent almost every summer since childhood vacationing in his ancestral island (divided into 5 small villages), he was more than excited to experience it with his new bride on their honeymoon. So off they went and frolicked the beaches of Mykonos, Santorini, Rhodes, Karpathos and Athens. Of course, no framed picture could capture the rustic and simple beauty of the Greek islands. The crystal turquoise beaches that plunged into the royal blue of the Mediterranean, the bright fushia boughavillea cascading down the white washed houses nested in the cliffs of the towns, old leathery men riding on top of their mules, the cobble stoned streets where you could motorbike or relax and enjoy the simple grilled octopus and baked beans, the strong fragrant coffee and local sweet jams, the wild figs and pomegranate trees dotting the dirt roads, truly a world away. Breathtaking, one should visit if given the chance. And then came BABY….. Andrew and Julie’s lifelong dream of starting a family came quickly thereafter. His idea of having six little ones running around (yes, six!) and Julie’s need to have some space for his brood and her sanity, they decided to pack up and head north out of the city. They ended up in Fishkill, NY about an hour north of NYC. Fishkill is in the historic Hudson Valley, where the train rides along the scenic Hudson River and the weekends are filled with picking farms, beautiful hikes, great local dining and sailing. Of course, the local Walmart and Target had gained some popularity for their visiting city friends too. As their house was being built brick by brick, Julie and Andrew were getting bigger and bigger (yes, Andrew too was (compassionately :-P ) gaining some pregnancy pounds) and rushing to finish their nest for baby. Regulars by name at the local Home Depot and Lowes, they had just finished a week before she had her C-section. Yup, life quickly took them by storm a week after their first summer BBQ. On Saturday, July 2, 2005 (3 weeks earlier than expected) at 3:25pm at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY, an adorable and perfect angel named Lily Andreas Papadakis was born 6lbs 6oz., 19 inches. That moment, the world became a more beautiful place. On Wednesday, June 13, 2007 (2 weeks earlier than expected) at 12:25pm at Vassar Brothers Medical Center in Poughkeepsie, NY, an adorable and perfect soul named Michael Andrew Papadakis was born 7lbs 8oz., 20.5 inches. That moment, the Papadakis clan became whole and perfect. The move of a lifetime In May/June 2009, the Papadakis family held their breath for three months and uprooted EVERYTHING and EVERYBODY down to McLean, VA. Julie quit her job at Pfizer and Andrew relocated his fledgling Partner wings to the Tysons Corner office. Of course (for those who know Julie the best), she couldn’t find the perfect house so they decided to what only truly masochistic people do – build one of your own. Working with Reel Homes custom builders, they blew all safety to the wind and took on the challenge of becoming designers overnight. Yup, could end up both comic and tragic and the most expensive mistake. But in usual step, Julie and Andrew just took life by the horns!
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