After 75 years, one man is still dedicated to singing in his church choir

By Demorris A. Lee

TARPON SPRINGS — Paul Stavropoulos was 10 years old when he
first joined the St. Nicholas Orthodox Cathedral choir in 1935.

At the time, the church was a wooden structure and Stavropoulos
lived at 202 Hibiscus Street, just a block down from the Pinellas
Avenue church.

As the 105th Epiphany Celebration gets under way this week in
Tarpon Springs, Stavropoulos, 85, will be where he’s been for most
of his life: singing in the choir during Thursday morning’s
Epiphany service at the church.

“I just enjoy singing in the choir,” Stavropoulos said while
sitting at his kitchen table in his Gulf Road home. “I love my
faith, the Greek Orthodox faith. If I didn’t, I would not be
singing all these years.”

After the morning service, a processional leaves the church and
ends at Spring Bayou, where 78 boys will try to retrieve the
coveted white cross from its chilly waters.