‘Joseph Stalin’s granddaughter was baptized here, with my parents being the godparents.’

Cathy Spyres is a long-time active member of the Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church and works as the head of volunteers for the Doors Open Milwaukee event at the church. She’s lived in Milwaukee her entire life and was previously a member of Milwaukee’s first Greek Orthodox church.

Skye Williams: Are you from the Milwaukee area? How long have you been here?

Cathy Spyres: Yes, I was born in Milwaukee, and so were my parents. I was born in 1947. I’m 78 years old.

Skye Williams: You’re so beautiful at 78!

Cathy Spyres: Thank you!

Skye Williams: What drew you to volunteer here or work here?

Cathy Spyres: Everybody has a job they can do if they volunteer, something they’re good at. I taught English, speech, theater and coached the debate team and forensics team, so I’m good with speaking. That’s why I like doing tours, so that I can explain things to people. I’m good at expressing myself in front of groups and people that visit, including you.

Skye Williams: Yes, I aspire to be like that, honestly. What do you personally love about this Annunciation Greek Orthodox Church?

Cathy Spyres: This church is our second Greek Orthodox church in Milwaukee, and it was built by the famous architect, Frank Lloyd Wright. So I was in high school when it was first built and designed in 1959. My parents were active in the church and suggested Frank Lloyd Wright. So, they visited him, the church board, and he decided to do the church, and it made him very famous. And we found that we helped to educate people about our faith because if you ask people about Frank Lloyd Wright building this church, it’s not only about Christianity, but how it reflects our faith, too, of Greek Orthodoxy. In a way when people came to visit, they learned more about our faith and Frank Lloyd Wright. So, I like that idea.

Skye Williams: It’s like a double benefit, right?

Cathy Spyres: Double, yeah.

Skye Williams: You said this is the second Greek Orthodox church here, did you attend the first?

Cathy Spyres: We had a first one, yes, because I’m old. I was baptized in the first church. It was annunciation, of course, but it was located downtown on Broadway and Knapp Street. And it’s been demolished. It had other functions later. I think it was part of the Internal Revenue or whatever later. But we outgrew that church. That’s why we were looking for an architect to come out here, but a lot of people were afraid to come out here in the ’50s because there was nothing but farmland and no buses and nothing. And they thought, “why are you going out so far?” So, I was at the first church until 1961, when this church was completed.

Skye Williams: So, you’ve been here for a while. Have you noticed significant changes in the community?

Cathy Spyres: They had to get used to the idea of a unique architect like Frank Lloyd Wright, because it didn’t look like a “regular church,” if you want to use that word.

Skye Williams: Have you seen a growth in youth coming to the church?

Cathy Spyres: I’ve noticed a big change. I also noticed with churches that some people leave because their parents made them go and maybe they don’t want to go anymore. And maybe somebody marries a young lady, or a young man, from another religion. Well, maybe he’s going to join her at her religion, so he leaves our church, but it works both ways. We’ve seen numbers go down, other people tell me that in their own religions they’ve seen the numbers go down, but we also see now a resurgence where some people are just searching.

Skye Williams: Is there anything else you’d like to add?

Cathy Spyres: When Frank Lloyd Wright died, he left his architectural firm called Taliesin intact, but many people still worked there, of course, all the architects. They continued to build his buildings that he designed, plus new ones. One of his architects was Wesley Peters. He worked with our people, for example, here to complete Frank Lloyd Wright’s building. Wesley Peters also was traveling all over the United States, and he met a lady and married her and brought her back to Taliesin. She was the daughter of Joseph Stalin, the Russian dictator who, of course, killed many millions of people. She was Svetlana Stalin, and she escaped her family and left children, didn’t tell anyone, and came to America and sought asylum, and she got it. They had a child, and her name was Olga. This was about 10 years after our church opened, but he was still working all over the world. He brought her to our church one day because we had what was known as a big ceremony, like a consecration, like a baptism. And this church was packed. The KGB was outside because they followed her everywhere. [Wesley and Svetlana] turned to our priest after everyone left and said, “We want our baby baptized.” She wanted religious freedom, which is why she came. And of course our priest said, “Of course, you can have your child baptized.” And they said, “Great.” They turned to my parents, and they said, “Would you be the godparents?” So, my parents were the godparents for Joseph Stalin’s granddaughter who was baptized in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, which is huge history. That’s history here, that Joseph Stalin’s granddaughter was baptized here with my parents being the godparents.