Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church

Catherine Dreessen

Creator:            Jeremy Compton

Subject:            Greek Community in Asheville

Keyword:         Greek

Description:       Catherine Dreessen talks about growing up in Asheville as a member of the Greek community.

Format:            1 90-minute audio cassette; 2 CDs

Interview Date: 2-19-2008

Interview Location: University of North Carolina at Asheville Ramsey Library, Asheville, NC

Biography:  Catherine Dreessen was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina in 1975.  She is divorced and has two children: John and Ben Dreessen.  She attended college in Raleigh, and in Asheville.  She now resides in Asheville with her two children, while working two jobs to support them.

Introduction: As part of a Public History class project, members of Asheville’s Greek community were interviewed.  Ms. Dreessen, a third-generation member of Asheville’s Greek community was interviewed to explain her point-of-view of the communities activities.

Warning: There is background noise with neighbors in the next Group Study Room.

List of Names:

[08:00] Greek Orthodox Youth of America (GOYA)

[14:35] UNCA and AB Tech

[15:05] Five Points Restaurant

[15:46] Meredith College

[00:28] Catherine is 32 years old

[00:41] She never felt out of place

[00:55] Students thought she was cool, she had different background

[01:02] No Prejudice felt.

[01:14] Public in early life then moved to a private school (High School)

[01:27] She considers herself to be a ‘bad’ child and school backgrounds.  As she was in the public school system, and was transferred to a private school in High school later on.

[02:01] She felt no conflicts of personal beliefs as a Greek person being raised in an American school.

[02:38] Her first memory of the Greek community growing up, was the Greek School.

[03:27] Her upbringing and how her parents raised her with the atmosphere of Asheville around her.  Mentioning of Greek traditions of other kids.

[04:27] She doesn’t consider herself to be active in the church now, compared to how she was earlier in her life. Two kids, two jobs.

[04:55] She is very lenient in enforcing her religion on her children. She begins to talk about her life as a child growing up in the Greek community and how she had to attend many church activities throughout a normal week.

[05:45] Married a ‘white-boy’, and talks about her ex-husbands past and how she hopes that her children want to know more about the Greek church, on their own, but for now they do not attend as much as she would prefer, as she does not enforce Greek school on them.

[07:02] Talks about how each generation gets a little bit looser and more lenient than the last about the influence of the Church.  Mentions her mother, and her grandparents are from Asheville.  Her grandparents moved to Asheville from Greece.

[08:00] Mentioning of the organization, GOYA, the Greek Orthodox Youth of America.  She also mentions other Greek activities outside of church: Greek School, Sunday School, and Greek Dance.

[08:31] Greek Dance explanation, folk dancing, from youth until adulthood you dance.  The Greek Festival is mentioned for the dancing. 

[09:31] Explanation of the Greek Festival and how active she is, and what she has done in the past in it.  She explains how her family pitches in at the Festival and gives examples of how her other obligations prevent her from attending as much as she did as a child.  As a child she danced and helped cook food for it with her mother, grandmother, aunts, and uncles.

[10:20] She talks about how important families are for the Greek community and her specific family.  She mentions how the second, third, and fourth cousins are just as important as the first cousins.

[11:14] Talks about her family, her mother’s side and father’s side both, does not regret moving to Asheville and residing here.  Mentions how her family is one of the founding families of the community and the church here in Asheville, in the 1900s.  She brings up the restaurants and mills started here by the Greek community.

[12:16] She envisions herself moving from Asheville, as she is ready for new scenery.  She does say she would prefer to move to a city with a strong Greek community presence: such as Charlotte, Atlanta, or Knoxville.

[13:40] She has family in Knoxville, and Atlanta.  She has friends in Charlotte.  Her sister attended school in Charlotte.

[14:18] After college, she returned immediately to Asheville and went to school here. She goes into detail about the colleges she attended: AB Tech and UNCA.  She also worked at her grandfather’s restaurant, out at the airport in Asheville, inside the BB&T building.  She now works at the Five Points restaurant on Saturdays, which is owned by a Greek.

[15:45] Her college studies, and how she ‘partied’ too much at Meredith College, and was brought home due to it.  She studied criminal justice and now taking online classes for business.  She has no idea what she wants to do with degree thus far.

[17:27] Her oldest child goes to the county school, and her youngest child goes to daycare.

[18:00] She explains how her oldest child sometimes is confused for being Greek, as he has red hair.

[18:53] She mentions how she has no trouble ever finding a job here in Asheville.

[19:15] Due to the temperature in the room being so hot, the tape is paused and flipped during this time as a precaution. 

Due to a tape malfunction, the last 15 minutes of this interview was lost.