Crete

In 1966, a feisty, handsome, young immigrant from Crete “took a chance” to come to America at the age of 29 in focused pursuit of his “love at first sight” whom he discovered a year earlier on a Mediterranean cruise. Little did he know at the time that years later, in another country, he’d be a husband, father and rancher in charge of a 100-acre farmstead complete with livestock and hay. Add to this energetic character a love of hunting and fishing with a passion for adding an extra heavy dose of unapologetic bold Greek identity throughout and you have the makings of an extraordinary life. Bernie Iliakis has written the following story about that person, his father Michael.