John E. Sakellakis' Obituary
John E. Sakellakis, age 90, passed away peacefully with his family at his side on Thursday, December 14, 2023.
Beloved husband of 64 years to Effie Sakellakis. Loving Father of Tessie Wakefield (Paul), Georgia Karides (George), Elias Sakellakis (Sydney), and George Sakellakis (Nilli). Cherished grandfather of Mia Taghi, Jane Wakefield, Nick Wakefield, John Sakellakis, and Alysun Sakellakis. Great grandfather of George Taghi. Dear brother of Michael Sakellakis and Koula Oikonomidis. Preceded in death by his parents Elias and Georgia Sakellakis, his brother Socrates Sakellakis, and his sister Fotini Manolakis.
John came to the United States from Karpathos, Greece at the age of 16 to pursue the American Dream, which he richly found after he learned English and quickly began editing the Lincoln High School newspaper. He served in the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Europe during the Korean War era, achieving the rank of Corporal.
He married Effie, a city girl from Athens whose family hailed from Karpathos, and set up shop in Tremont, Cleveland. They had four beautiful children, five grandchildren, and a great grandchild, who captured their hearts and souls.
Bitten with the desire to work with electronics from his experience in the Army, John worked hard to remain in the field, attending Fenn College of Engineering and becoming an electronic engineer. He had a long, successful career at Gould, Inc., where his mind and hands worked together to be the lead design engineer on many successful projects, and added patented inventions to his list of accomplishments. He was active in Amateur Radio, achieving the highest “Extra” class license (call sign W8GXU), bouncing his signals off of the ionosphere and communicating with the rest of the world.
Furthering his exploits on the airwaves, John was the host of the Greek Hour radio show on WXEN for several years where he befriended many Greeks from the Cleveland area.
John’s lessons to his family were to fiercely love each other as well as strangers, to appreciate the role of God in their lives, and to work hard and never give up. He wrote and published a book about his life story which he worked on for many years, titled “Little Stories from Greece; Tales of a Young Boy Growing Up on the Island of Karpathos, Greece during WWII and his Transition to America.” https://www.amazon.com/Little-Stories-Greece-Karpathos-transition/dp/B0BVDV41NM
ALL SERVICES on TUESDAY DECEMBER 19, 2023 at ST. PAUL GREEK ORTHODOX CHURCH, 4548 Wallings Rd. North Royalton, OH 44133. VISITATION from 9:30 AM to 11:00 AM. FUNERAL SERVICE TO FOLLOW AT 11:00 AM. Interment at Ohio Western Reserve National Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in John’s memory to St. Paul Greek Orthodox Church, 4548 Wallings Road, North Royalton, OH 44133.
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