John Faros (1893-1950) Obituary - Central Queensland Herald, 20 July 1950
OBITUARY
Mr. J. Faros
By the death of Mr. John Faros, Clermont has lost a well-known citizen and a man whose support was behind any progressive movement,
particularly in the sporting field. Mr. Faros possessed a fine personality which gained him the respect of his numerous friends. He had been an inmate of the Clermont Hospital for six weeks.
Born at Kytheria, Greece, 57 years ago, Mr. Faros had traveled widely and lived a life of fullness to himself by his generosity to others. At an early age he left his native country and worked throughout the Continent and England before going to South Africa to join his father who conducted a restaurant business in Cape Town. His adventurous spirit took him to the diamond mines of the Kimberley’s where fate was unkind to him. His decision to abandon the venture was ill-timed as a fabulously rich patch of jewels was discovered in the mine a week later. His attention then turned to the Belgian Congo, where he put up his experience gained in hotel life in Europe into practice at Leopodville. He later returned to Cape Town and worked with his father before returning to Greece where he married 31 years ago. Mr. Faros also served for two years in the Greek-Turkish war which followed World War I.
A daughter, Violet, was born before Mr. and Mrs. Faros sailed for Australia, where Mr. Faros entered the restaurant business at Cowra, N.S.W. Five years later the business was destroyed by fire, the fate which had befallen one of his other ventures in South Africa. Faros came to Miles where he conducted the Red Cross Cafe. In 1929 Mr. Faros came to Clermont where he and his brother-in-law, Mr. Angelo Bylos purchased the Paris Cafe. Mr. Faros became the sole proprietor of the business in 1938 when Mr. Bylos sold his interest and returned to Greece. When his two sons returned from service during World War II they joined their father in the business, which was destroyed by Clermont's most disastrous fire on June 24, 1948. Mr. Faros was determined to overcome his many setbacks and a new concrete
building for the Paris Cafe was in an advanced stage of construction at the time of his death.
Mrs. Faros and a family of six children survive him. Four sisters live in Greece. The members of the family are Violet (Mrs J. Poulos, Sydney), James, Alexander and Anne (Clermont), Margaret (Mrs G Londy, Towoomba), and Eva ("Mary"), Clermont.
The funeral moved from All Saints' Memorial Church of England on Thursday, Father J Cateris, of the Greek Orthodox Church, Townsville, conducting the services. The large funeral cortege bore testimony to the esteem in which Mr. Faros was held in the community.
Clermont correspondent.
