Mason and family man was loving, supportive

Peter Morfesis was a social man, always making friends. For him, getting to know strangers was about as natural as breathing. Morfesis formed bonds with untold numbers of people during his life, including those he met during 61 years as a Mason.

In addition to being a Mason with Mariner Lodge 2, Morfesis was in the Benevolent and Protective Order of the Elks, Lodge 242, and the Order of the Eastern Star Azalea Chapter 192. He also was a past president of an American Legion post in Mechanicsville, N.J. The religious and cultural connections he first made during summer visits to the Holy City as a teen were nurtured at the Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity.

During his years at Germantown High School in Philadelphia, Morfesis, who died Nov. 27, spent summers visiting his uncle, Peter John Armenis, who owned a grocery store with George Manos at Morris and St. Philip streets. Morfesis married Manos' daughter, Lucia, in Charleston in 1960, became owner of the grocery store and renamed it Pete's Grocery.

While he spent part of his adult life in New Jersey, he always was drawn back to Charleston, says his daughter, Jackie Morfesis. His fascination with Charleston's people and its old buildings drew him like a magnet, she says. He was passionate about the arts as well, especially music.

Eugene Ormandy, longtime music director of the Philadelphia Orchestra, chose Morfesis for an all-boys choir that performed at Carnegie Hall during the mid-1940s, Jackie Morfesis says. Her father seriously considered pursuing a singing career, but his parents were concerned that such a career would not prepare him to provide for a family. So they did not allow him to accept a four-year scholarship to study voice in college.

They wanted him to try the restaurant business, and he did, Jackie Morfesis says. In fact, he once owned a restaurant in New Jersey, but he encouraged his daughters to follow their dreams, she says. He always supported their goals and those of his wife.

When Lucia Morfesis was writing her master's thesis for a French literature degree she earned from the University of Mississippi in 1963, Morfesis typed it.

"His natural way was to adopt whatever you were interested in," Jackie Morfesis says. "He kind of fell in love with all things French because my mother had pursued that."

Lucia Morfesis recalls that her husband would take a couple of hours off from his store during afternoons to type her thesis, "Women in the Novels of Francois Mauriac." It took him about four months to type the thesis, including retyping the portions that she revised.

Others agree it was in Morfesis' nature to be supportive.

"He always had a kind word to say," says Tom Lewis Jr., 2010 worshipful master (leader) of Mariner Lodge 2, which Morfesis joined about five years ago. "By the time he got here, I don't think his health would let him take an active role in the ceremonies, but you knew that he was behind you in what you were doing," Lewis says. "Anytime the lodge was open, he was there. Masonry is pretty much a big male-bonding organization, guys getting together and trying to improve ourselves. As much as anything, he will be remembered for his faithfulness.

"He was just a kind, gentle loving soul."

Reach Wevonneda Minis at 937-5705 or wminis@postandcourier.com.