By LIZ GOFF

When Olimpia Hangiaris was a small girl, her uncle was kidnapped by marauding pirates – Turks who tore through her small Greek village of Pily. Her uncle was returned to the family for ransom, but not before his captors cut off his ear.

Hangiaris, as a young woman, joined other villagers in a resistance movement against Italian Fascists and Nazis who arrived with occupation troops during WWII, to take over Pily.

The villagers hid in caves atop mountains that surround the village, where they assisted resistance forces – and watched in horror as the enemy burned the town to the ground.

Hangiaris left Pily in 1947, headed for the U.S., where she would join her brother and seek the American dream. She brought with her few material things; but she possessed a strength, determination and the willingness to make a better life in “the land of opportunity,” she said.

Hangiaris settled, shortly after she arrived in New York City, in Richmond Hill. By then a new bride, she quickly settled into the fabric of the borough, with its many cultures and ethnicities. She was one of thousands of Greek immigrants who would carve a lifestyle in Queens, in neighborhoods where the scent of souvlaki now fills the air, where signs reading “Elliniko” (we speak Greek) are as common today as corner street signs.

Hangiaris and her husband, Theodore, raised three children in Queens – each of whom inherited their mother’s determination to succeed. Her son, Angelo, is a professor of history at Hunter College. He is in the process of publishing his first book on American History, and is credited as an expert on the subject, Hunter officials said. A daughter, Effie, is an officer with the New York State Court System, and a third daughter, Eleftheria, was just appointed principal at P.S. 78 in Long Island City – the “City Lights” elementary school located within the Queens West development at Hunters Point.

At age 81, Hangiaris now lives in Astoria, near Eleftheria – also known as Terry Delis, wife of CB1 District Manager George Delis.

Greek food stores line the streets of Astoria, where a large Greek population continues to thrive.

Terry Delis is a vibrant, intellectual, street-savvy Queensite – always on the go, a soft spoken woman of purpose. She attributes her success to a legacy of hard work handed down to her by her parents.

“We live in Astoria because this is where we want to be,” Delis said. “I feel very lucky to live in a place of opportunity where dreams create success stories.

“This is a port of call for everyone who dreams of success – a better way of life.”

Delis is one of 30,000 Greeks who currently live in Astoria. Many children of Greek parents who settled there in the 1960s have chosen to move to Whitestone, Bayside and other eastern Queens communities. But they come home, Delis said, for holidays, celebrations – and to stay in touch with the largest Greek community outside Athens.

The history of Queens’ “little Athens” began in 1927, with 16 newly-settled Greek immigrant families.

“They were the ‘pioneers’ of the Greek community in Astoria,” said George Zachariadis, Community Manager of St. Demetrios Cathedral. “Those families worked to raise funds to build a Greek Orthodox Church in the area. They were only able to raise enough funds to lay a foundation, and build the church basement,” he said. “And for the next 13 years, members of the Greek community in Astoria worshipped in that basement.”

In 1940, with the help and generosity of a growing community, the church was completed, Zachariadis said. The church was renamed St. Demetrios Cathedral in 1985, he said, “…in honor of the oldest Greek American community in Queens and Long Island.” Today, St. Demetrios is the centerpoint of the Greek community in Astoria, with an elementary school established in 1958 and a high school, which was opened in 1980.

There are now more than two dozen Greek Orthodox Churches in Queens, helping to preserve the rich culture and history of Greece for everyone living in Queens.

PS78 Principal Terry Delis (left) and her mother, Greek immigrant Olimpia Hangiaris, have made a successful life in Astoria.

Olimpia Hangiaris was named for Mount Olympus, which sits like a great warrior, overlooking her village of Pily. When she arrived in the U.S., Hangiaris’ first name was misspelled by immigration officials – who refused to correct the error.  “So she has remained Olimpia,” Delis said. And while the original Olympic games were held miles away from her birthplace, Hangiaris has always shared a special link with the history of the games because of her name.

As principal of P.S. 78, Terry Delis may soon be in a position to bring her mother’s “link” to the Olympics full circle.

If New York City is chosen to host the 2012 Olympic Games, the Hunters Point area in Long Island City – particularly the Queens West Development – will play a pivotal role in hosting athletes and other participants. And Terry Delis will be in a role through which she can educate and inspire youngsters at P.S. 78 with the rich history of the games.

Delis is one of many second-generation Greek Americans who have achieved success through hard work.

Queens recently elected its first Greek American to public office. Michael Gianaris, an Astoria resident, fought hard for and won a seat in the New York State Assembly in November 2000. Today, Gianaris serves almost 200,000 constituents from his offices on Ditmars Boulevard in Astoria. Italians, Hispanics, Asians and Greek Americans seek his help and counsel on any number of issues.

“The Astoria Greek community is a classic New York story,” Gianaris said. “It is a story of immigrants coming to this country, working hard and making a better life for their children than they had themselves.”

Gianaris’ parents, Nicholas and Magna, arrived in Astoria with their children in the mid-1960s from Kalavrytha, Greece – a town where Nazi occupation troops killed almost every adult male during “the biggest Greek massacre of WWII,” he said.

“My parents came here with limited knowledge of English, they worked hard and got to a place where they are now represented in the New York State Assembly by their own son,” Gianaris said. “Hopefully, the success we have had is only the beginning. Hopefully, we will see other young sons and daughters of immigrants follow in our footsteps.”

Delis, who is a product of the Queens public school system (P.S. in Richmond Hill, Van Wyck J.H.S. in Briarwood and Richmond Hill High School), graduated from Hunter College and headed to a job at P.S. 45 in South Ozone Park (District 27), where she taught first and second graders.

Delis estimated that she has taught more than 1,050 students in her career. She said it is “very gratifying” to live in the same area as these students – who are now lawyers, teachers and other professionals.

“We meet on the street,” she said. “And while many of these students moved out of Astoria at some point, they are now returning to the community.”

Delis said the area’s cultural and educational opportunities often encourage the twenty-something group to “come back home.”

“We have P.S. I, the Astoria Museum of the Moving Image, The African Museum, Socrates Sculpture Park, the Noguci Museum – and it’s all located at a stone’s throw from Manhattan and its opportunities,” she said.