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As most of our members know, Zakynthos Informer recently put up a post written by Mr Gregory Pappas from Pappas Post (original post below), about the former secretary of state in the United States of America, Mr James A. Baker requesting help to find the mystery “ZANTE GIRL, ” in which three ladies took upon themselves to help out. Roula, Maria and Kathy Christie three family members living in Houston, USA were intrigued by Secretary Bakers story and offered to help him in his quest to try and find her, and the story was picked up by Pappas Post. The three Christie sisters have made it a personal mission to help their friend and long-time customer locate the Zante girl. The Zante Girl being a little girl caught within the devastation of the Great Earthquake that hit Zakynthos in 1953.
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The story goes that Mr Baker an American marine at the time had a camera and shot various photos during his relief work— including one photo of a young girl that has stayed with him for decades. He named her “The Zante Girl” as he did not know her name, something that up until today remained a mystery.
Zakynthos Informer has found her.
It all started off when my friend Jackie Boots had tagged me on a FB post and mentioned that it would be suitable for our pages as it was a very touching story. After reading the post I agreed but then took more noticed of the little girl in the photo. I couldn’t help noticing that she had very similar characteristics to a young girl I once knew, who now has grown up and is married. I looked closer at the photograph and noticed that the fields she was standing in, looked very similar to those that I knew and there was no doubt in my mind that the little girl in the photograph just had to be a relative of my friend. I immediately sent a message asking if it could be her grandma without think of her age nor did I do calculations of the possible age her grandma could be. She later confirmed that it wasn’t her grandmother but in fact it was her aunty. Needless to say I got her autny’s telephone number and called her, my heart was racing I was excited to learn that I had found the Zante Girl, the mystery girl that Mr Baker so dearly wanted unsolved. We had planned to meet later that day so she could tell me her story, the story she had kept for herself for so many years.
However, me wanting to be a hundred percent sure that it was her and to leave no doubt there could be no mistake, I seached a little more. After getting hold of another photo of the Zante Girl I took the photo to her sister, Maria, we are friends for many years and asked her to look at the photograph and tell me what she saw. Straight away she told me “this is my sister Iovanna” and asked me where I got the photo from; that was courtsey of Mr Andreas Staveris I told her and then began telling her the story of Mr Baker. I also had information for people that were old than Zante Girl Iovanna and they also confirmed it was her, telling me that’s how she would wear her hair and that at the time she would always be in a happy mood.
So here I have the Zante Girl, her name is Iovanna Xifita Bythoulka, now at the age of 71 years of age and although she has recently had problems with her health she was only too willing to open her door and greet us with that great Zakynthian hospitality.
