Browse Items (16 total)

In this final installment of an oral history series, Chris Kappas is joined by his wife, Maria Kappas, to talk about their life working in the restaurant industry and raising a family in Blacksburg.

In this interview, Maria recounts emigrating…

The fifth oral history interview in a series about the Greek community in Blacksburg, local history, and the restaurant industry with Chris Kappas.

In this interview, Kappas talks about establishing Souvlakis in the Blacksburg community as a…

The fourth oral history interview in a series with Chris Kappas, longtime Blacksburg local and restauranteur.

In this interview, Chris Kappas talks about becoming principal partner in the Greek's restaurant with his father's former business…

The third installment of a series of oral history interviews with Blacksburg local, restauranteur, and active community member Chris Kappas.

This oral history interview begins with Chris talking about his childhood growing up in war-torn Greece.…

The second session in a series of oral history interviews with Chris Kappas, local Blacksburg restaurateur and land lord.

In this interview, Chris Kappas recounts his early life growing up in the Greek countryside during World War II while…

The first in a special series of interviews with Chris Kappas, a local Blacksburg businessman, land lord, and restaurateur. Born in Greece in 1938, Chris Kappas is the son of Nick Kappas, early Greek immigrant and restaurateur in Southwest Virginia.…

In this interview, Bill Kenealy discusses what it felt like to return to campus after forty years, the Gay Student Alliance in the late 1970s, summer resort jobs in New England, gay discos, Denim Day preparations, his time in the United States Navy…

William Simpkins discusses his experience coming to Virginia Tech as a student from the local area in the late 1990s and coming out as gay while here. He talks about the history of gay student groups at Virginia Tech in the late 1990s and their…

Susan Manero talks about her time at Southern Seminary College (now Southern Virginia University) decision to transfer to Virginia Tech, surprise at the lack of denim on Denim Day in 1979, coming out, the gay and lesbian community in Blacksburg, the…

A staged reading of articles and letters to the editor about Denim Day from the 1979 Collegiate Times interspersed with clips from the Denim Day at Virginia Tech 40th Anniversary Oral History Collection.

Scott Beadle was a member of the Gay Student Alliance during the first Gay Awareness Week and helped to plan Denim Day in 1979. During his time at Virginia Tech, he studied engineering and theater arts and served as president of the Gay Student…

In this interview, Sewell discusses the classes he was teaching as a member of the Department of Communications in 1979 during Denim Day. He recalls some of the responses he observed to the event, including the university's official stance on the Gay…

Lisa Barroso arrived at Virginia Tech in the fall after Denim Day happened. She became an active member of the lesbian community and the Women's Space group. Her brother, Mark Barroso, was an editor at the Collegiate Times and is remembered by many…

In this interview Steve Noll discusses accepting his sexuality as a young man, the unnamed gay student group before the Gay Student Alliance and the support it received from Cooper House, and reactions to Denim Day from the communities surrounding…

In this interview, Helene talks about realizing her sexuality in Catholic school in the early 1970s and her time as a lesbian at Virginia Tech in the late 1970s. She talks about the difficulty being out while keeping that part of her life separate…

In this interview, Nancy talks about her time as a lesbian at Virginia Tech in the late 1970s and her memories of the Denim Day event planned by the Gay Student Alliance as part of Gay Awareness Week in 1979.