Nikolaos Pempes was born in Sinasos circa 1880. He married his compatriot, Vasiliki Ladopoulou. Like most Sinasos men, Nikolaos worked in Constantinople, regularly visiting his family who had stayed behind in Sinasos. Nikolaos and Vasiliki had three children, Lazaros in 1906, Gavriil, and Theologos in 1915, but Vasiliki died when giving birth to their third child. Nikolaos left his children with his late wife’s sisters, Makryna and Elisavet, who were single, and never returned to Sinasos. He soon got married again. Before his tenth birthday, Gavriil died in an accident while playing. Lazaros and Theologos left Sinasos on October 2, 1924, along with their two aunts. They settled in Aigaleo and were both forced to work in order to survive. The two brothers experienced horrible conditions and a hostile family environment, circumstances which were particularly hard on Theologos who was still very young.
In 1940, shortly before Greece entered the Second World War, Theologos Pempes was serving in the Greek Royal Navy and his ship made a stop in Constantinople. During this time, he managed to locate his father, Nikolaos, and meet him for the first time at the age of 25. We don’t know anything else about this meeting, but the two men stayed in touch. Right after the war ended, Theologos convinced his father to move to Greece. Among the few possessions he brought with him was this walking stick, which he used mainly for self-defense. His granddaughter, Vaso Pempe, donated it to the small museum of the ‘Nea Sinasos’ Association at a time when it was trying to expand its permanent collection.
