Peter Melonas has a History of Keeping the Peace

Have lunch any day of the week at the Southampton Town Community Center in Hampton Bays and you’ll be sure to find the smiling, dimpled face of Peter C. Melonas at a table in the back row. He’ll be the one serving lunch to his fellow seniors, introducing everyone by name and background, and brokering peace among what can be a very territorial crowd.

It’s in his nature, with a history that goes back more than 40 years. This veteran of human resource departments for major companies was also in one of the first classes of the Peace Corps. Just out of DePaul University, he answered President Kennedy’s inspiring call to service.

“When Kennedy asked not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country, I took that to heart,” said the multi-lingual descendant of Greek immigrants while he watched the clock: lunch is served at 12 on the dot.

Now, as the Peace Corps is celebrating its 50th anniversary, Melonas has been called upon to reminisce about the two years he spent in Iran from 1964 to 1966. So far he’s been featured on a local program by FIOS that was taped in Westbury and has spoken at high schools and for the seniors.

And his Farsi is still pretty good, but don’t compliment him on it, as he says, he used to think that learning many languages was about intelligence.

“It’s not. It’s all parroting,” he said.

His recall is useful, because he is still in touch with many of the high school students to whom he taught English in that remote Iranian village.

He still hears from Parviz Fadai, to whom he gave a basketball; the first the child had ever seen.

“I’m real proud of that,” he said. “Parviz went on to play on the Iranian national team and then on the national team of the Philippines. He lives in Canada now.”

Melonas then starts to kvell, talking about former students like they were his children.

“Mehdi Mobini, he was one of the brightest,” he said. “He’s now a vet at the University of Georgia. And he’s written a book, a handbook on goats. I teased him because the worst thing you can call an Iraqi is a donkey, and it’s a good thing he wrote about goats, not donkeys.”

Melonas’s eyes sparkle as he adds, “He’s been up to Plum Island, too. He has the clearance.”

And there’s Fred Ziari, now the chairman of the largest reclamation water project in world.

In essence they, and all the others he helped get a start in business, are his children; he and his partner of 41 years, John C. Holland, have none of their own.

But they just may find a few more people to adopt at the senior lunch, because Melonas expects to be around for a long time.

“I had a gypsy tell me I was going to live to be 103,” he said. “I met her in New Jersey.”