ELIA (LEO) ANDON KOTELLY

You could only describe my father as a true American Patriot. He loved this country as I know no other man could. From my earliest childhood he would extol its virtues. Education was the gateway to success he would say and America was the land of opportunity where you could get as far as you want to go. Considering he never got to High School he saw  3  of his children graduate from college. He left Albania as a young teenager to escape the clutches of the Ottoman Empire. He was about to be drafted into the Turkish Army when he boarded a ship for the United States. As an immigrant in Jamestown New York he was exploited by the mill owners . He didn’t care. He made it to America and that was good enough for him. When WW I broke out he was anxious to join the Army. He thought those years were the best years of his youth. He was heartbroken when he was mustered out in 1918. After all why do you need a standing Army when the War to end all Wars was over. He settled in South Boston and lived the next 80 years there. He was well known as“Leo”of Joe’s Spa. At the L St Bath house he reigned as checkers champ for many years. He was a family oriented man and we were lucky to have him with us for almost 103 years.