L to R
1. Denny (Dimitrios) Victor Panaretto of Lismore
2. Nick James Crethar of Lismore
3. Florrie (Gregoria) Victor Panaretto of Lismore
4. Miss Marigo James Crethar of Lismore
5. George Nick Combes of Tenterfield (bestman)
6. Paul (Polychronis) Victor Panaretto of Casino.
Florrie Panaretto, born at Moree in 1908, arrived in Lismore in 1932 and the ever-alert Nick Crethar rushed up from Evans Head to jump the queue of suitors, quickly out foxing the competition with a remarkable CV presented to Florrie’s brothers (notwithstanding that she was smitten anyway and ignored the selection board.)
Nick had landed in the early 1920s and spent a few years out west, mainly at Moree, before coming to Lismore in the late 1920s to link up with his brother Harry and establish a fruit shop down the southern end of Keen Street. Around 1930 they acquired the Regent Café further north on Keen, but a year or so later Nick moved off to Evans Head to establish a part-time seasonal outlet on behalf of he and Harry, alternating with a café at Coraki for a period.
They sold the Evans Head business to Johnny Nick Feros in about 1937 and Nick, after a short period back at the Regent, then took over the Woodlark Street café of Mick Marco Cassimatis and Peter Manuel Stathis. He returned to the Regent in the late war years but around 1947, after suffering one too many of Lismore’s floods, settled in Casino and established Crethar’s Café.
Nick died in 1960 and Florrie 1986. They raised six delinquents, five of whom managed to stay out of the hands of the police. (That’s an in-joke Joyce.)
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