Doumas’ own father had died when he was a small boy, so Doumas came to Winston-Salem in 1952 under the sponsorship of Jim Carros, his uncle, who was already in Winston-Salem. Doumas hadn’t known any Italian when he had to navigate getting onto a ship in Italy, and knew no English when he came to Winston-Salem.

Doumas got his first restaurant job at a place called the OK Lunch at Fourth Street and Patterson Avenue. A variety of other restaurant jobs followed until he joined Alex Fragakis at the Lighthouse in the early 1960s and became a partner in the restaurant.

Doumas married and started a family that came to include two girls and two boys. He brought his brother Louis in from Greece to help him run the restaurant in 1966.

“Dad was a very fine cook,” Cook said. “We were all working in a restaurant in some capacity. As the kids came into the business it was easier for him to run the construction company (started in 1978) and have both businesses going. He would come back in the afternoon and relieve Uncle Louis.”

The children had a demanding but loving father who “set the bar high for us to follow,” Cook said.

The Stokes County property came into his possession through his wife’s family and became a favorite haunt.