Gardener/Zaravatsis Family

The ancestral roots of the Gardener/Zaravatsis family are in Asia Minor.  The members of the family which lived in Saskatoon trace back to Theodore and Ourania Zaravatsis.

Theodore and Ourania had six children:  Theologos, Ekaterina, Ourania, Basilios, Nikolaos, and Elpis.  Their daughter-in-law and three grandchildren emigrated to Canada, lived a portion of their lives in Saskatoon.  They adopted the surname of Gardener after they arrived.

Alaia Papadopoulou was married to Theologos Zaravatsis.  She emigrated to Canada from Asia Minor without her husband, moving first to Quebec to live with a granddaughter (Efthimia Bey) and then to Saskatoon to live with grandson Joseph Theologos Gardener.  She died in 1946 in Saskatoon and is buried in Woodlawn Cemetery in that city.

Joseph Theologos Gardener moved from Asia Minor to the United States in about 1905.  He subsequently lived in Winnipeg and in the 1920s went to Regina and Moose Jaw.  He and his cousins Theodore Basilios Gardener and Efthimios Basilios Gardener then established businesses in Saskatoon in 1936 (Cameo Café) and 1937 (Shasta Café).  Joseph died unexpectedly in Edmonton in 1955.  He had moved his wife (the former Dorothy Kallops) and two sons (Theologos and Evangelos) during the previous fall.

Theodore and Ourania Zarzavatsis’ second grandson to live in Saskatoon was Theodore Basilios (“Ted”)  Gardener.  He was the son of Basilios Zarzavatsis and Pirlante (“Pearl”) Barootes.   He came to Saskatoon in 1923, where he took his high school education.  In 1933, he operated a confectionery in Edmonton, but returned to Saskatoon in 1936, where he joined his cousin Joseph and brother Efthimios in operating the Cameo and Shasta Cafes.   Ted married Edna Mary Serif (daughter of Samuel Serif of the Zenith Café in Saskatoon) in 1951. He subsequently returned to Edmonton where he was engaged in family businesses and where he and Mary raised four children. He ended his business career in Edmonton where he died in 1988.

The third grandson of Theodore and Ourania Zaravatsis to live in Saskatoon was Efthimios Basilios Gardner.  He joined his cousin (Joseph T. Gardner) and brother (Theodore B. Gardener) to operate the Cameo and Shasta Cafes in Saskatoon.  Like his brother, he ended his business career in Edmonton where he died in 1998.

Researched by Ken Pontikes, August 20, 2025