Me
My name is Brendan Barry and I’ve been visiting Ganister since I was a wee infant. My grandfather was born, raised, and grew up there. But he eventually left for university and moved and settled east. Myself, as a kid, every year we travelled from the Philadelphia suburbs to visit family and celebrate Orthodox Easter—we took time away from parochial school for this and I got to enjoy two Easters each year.
After my grandfather and great-grandmother passed away in the early 2000s—my great-grandfather died before I was born—we took a pause until 2010. By that point I had moved to Chicago and my family started making the Orthodox Easter trip once again. The Orthodox church, St. Mary’s, closed shortly thereafter and sparked my interest in my family’s history and the town’s.
The Site
This site grew out of my scattered collection of photographs and stories and it remains a passion project of mine. Over the years, however, a number of readers and visitors have graciously shared photos, stories, and documents of their own to enrich our shared history of the town.
Acknowledgments
As I alluded to above, this site and our shared history has grown through the contributions of many of you. And so a massive thanks and shout out to Aunt Dot and her family, the Kavchoks, Ann Gorsuch, Helen Pelak, Helen Stadelman, the Skvirs, the Kasuns, Michael Vapnar, Arlene Gardiner, Bob Lepak, Kristy Meyash, Elsie Wilson, Helen Eisenhower, Gary Krajacic, Tim Gasper, John Jones, and many others.
If you have some names, some stories, or a photograph that you would like to share, or even any questions, please feel free to e-mail me.