Daughter ‘greatest thing that’s ever happened to me’

“I’m 82, going on 83. And I don’t have any intentions of learning how to operate or even turn on a computer. I don’t want nothing to do except fish, be around my daughter, my grandkids and stuff like that. When you get to be my age, a lot of things that mattered years ago don’t count anymore. Family is number one. Always. I’m from Tarpon Springs, Florida. It’s a little fishing village about 30 miles east of Tampa. I come here for two months during the summer to be with my family. And I come for Christmas and New Year’s, then I go back to Florida. I’m satisfied with my life, all the way around. I’m blessed with a good daughter, good grandkids. What else could you want? 

“I had my daughter with my first wife when I was 26-27 years old. The Greeks like to have boys so they can carry on the last name. When the doctor came down the hallway and said, ‘Mr. Kouskoutis, I want you to know that you are the proud father of an 8-pound, 9-ounce baby girl,’ I lit up like a Christmas tree. I said, ‘When can I see her?’ He said, ‘They’re cleaning her up now.’ So I went over there, and they had her upside-down, cleaning her. She was crying, and I was banging on the window, saying, ‘What are you doing?’ At that age, I didn’t know from anything. When they took her and put her with my wife, I went up and saw her. And I tell you, at that moment and every day since, I would not have changed my daughter for 100 boys. That’s the greatest thing that’s ever happened to me in my life.”

— John Kouskoutis

(Note: John passed away on Nov. 6, 2021.)