Saugatuck - Douglas History Bookshelf Featuring publications on area history, both present day and in the past. Offered as a guide and inspiration for those who peruse used book stores. "Saugatuck Art Colony" [1945?] n.p., 5 1/2 x 8 1/2, saddlestitched. Translated by Rae Dalvin. George Coutoumanos was part owner of the Athenian Tobacco Co of Chicago tobacco that went out of business during the Depression and moved to Saugatuck in 1939. He was born in Greece and, although he learned enough English for ordinary conversation, he continued to write poetry in his native tongue. His poems were published in America for the Greek-speaking reader. A later collection by an Athens publisher received considerable critical acclaim in Europe. In 1944 the "Greek American Tribune" of New York City published a small prose work written by George Coutoumanos called "Saugatuck Art Colony," in several installments. Greek literary critics called it a new literary style, prose with a touch of poetry. The following year it was translated into English by Rae Dalvin, formerly of the theater department of Yale University. Coutoumanos was a much-loved fixture in Saugatuck. He was tall, with a straight back, and always wore a full suit. With his cane punctuating the way he would walk for miles, often hanging out at park benches along Butler Street. He was considered the town philosopher. Wally Peirce, who rowed the ferry scow in the 1940s wrote later that on slow days Coutoumanos would sometimes go back and forth on the boat. "We would talk about beautiful things that surrounded us that he could see and I was tripping over. It was rather like rowing Plato across the river, and coming back with Bernard Baruch." George and Jenny had seven children. A daughter, Anna, opened a restaurant in Saugatuck and a son, Clarence, was for a while associated with the Sand Bar on Butler Street. Jennie died in 1942 and George later moved to a house on Lake Street where he lived with his brother Annis. "The place always smelled strongly of Greek-style lemon soup," a young neighbor recalls. In the 1950s he published three books of Greek poetry. Their titles are translated Songs of the Soul, The Lullabies and Trilogy: Truth, Life, Money. All were printed by the Cosmos Greek-American Printing Co., but their title pages listed "Saugatuck, Mich." as the place of publication. The designation was the only English on a page of Greek. A number of these Greek poetry books still exist in Saugatuck, especially among Coutoumanos' friends at All Saints Episcopal Church, though few who were honored with copies of the volume know what the words within it say. The small volume Saugatuck Art Colony received much wider distribution in town, and some of the copies that have been located have notations that would indicate that at least two resorts placed a copy in each room. The imagery is poetic: "The romantic and magic Kalamazoo River, crowned by its morning and evening shadows and by the uninterrupted proud watersheds of the sand dunes around it, leaves the great modern bridge, laughing, and enters joyfully into the tiny crystalline lake baptized with its name. Then it crosses triumphantly through Saugatuck, makes two or three serpentine, smooth curves that close the triangle, gazes thrice-desolate, sullen and sad at its familiar river bed that greeted her for thousands of years ... crosses the new arms of the harbor, bidding a fond farewell to the lighthouse, then spills like the plaintive tears of a small tot slowly rolling around his mother's apron, into the freshwater sea Lake Michigan." George died in 1962 following a fall at the age of 82. He and Jenny are buried in Riverside Cemetery, Saugatuck. Just before Christmas, 1996, the widow of the youngest Coutoumanos son, Steve, and her son who is now a resident of Oregon, visited the area seeking family roots. They have, and will share for the upcoming exhibit, a painting done by Chris, another son of George and Jenny. Also, tucked away in a big cardboard box, is a large body of correspondence, in Greek, written by George during his time in Saugatuck. The grandson is now taking steps to have it translated and promises to share relevant results with Saugatuck, the Greek poet's adopted home. Copies of the little booklet Saugatuck Art Colony are quite common in Saugatuck, but few who knew him want to part with their copy. In organized book stores they sell for $7 to $10. In less organized stores a copy can often be found in an ephemera box for less. Source: SDHS newsletter insert, page 18-19