- Date Of Death: August 19, 2012
- State: Connecticut
Penelope Kasapoglou Jennett, 98, of Hamden Health Care, 1270 Sherman Lane, Hamden, died 19 August 2012 after a brief illness. She was the wife of the late Thomas D. Jennett.
Mrs. Jennett was born in Iconion, Asia Minor, (now Konya, Turkey) on 26 September 1913. She was the daughter of Anastasios and Politia Kasapoglou. At the time of her death, she was apparently the area’s last survivor of the 1922 Smyrna Catastrophe during which the Christian population of Asia Minor, mostly Greeks and Armenians, was forcibly expelled from their historic homeland, and hundreds of thousands were killed. Some historians consider this to be the first example of ethnic cleansing in the 20th Century. She escaped to Greece with her family and lived there as a refugee for several years.
Mrs. Jennett immigrated to the United States in 1932, the year of her marriage, and came to New Haven where her husband was living. The pair operated Olympia Luncheonette on the corner of State and Trumbull Streets for many years, a favorite of employees of several businesses in the area including The New Haven Register and The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. They resided at 44 Marvel Road until 1957 when she and her husband retired. Subsequently they divided their time between Athens, Greece and New Haven.
Mrs.
She leaves two daughters, Mrs. Angelo (Anastasia) Tambis of Woodbridge and Palm Harbor, FL; and Mrs. James (Catherine) Tommaselli of North Haven; a son, Matthew Jennett of New Haven and Athens, Greece, and 15 grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was pre-deceased by a brother, Christos Kasapoglou; two sisters, Elle Aktsoglou, and Theano Nizamis; and a grandson, John Tommaselli.
