Mom died peacefully at home surrounded by her family on Saturday December 6th. It was a long, three and a half year battle with illness that was emotionally battering for all.

But one thing that didn’t change with mom was…mom. She battled through the hard parts with optimism that doctors may have been wrong about the prognosis, that keeping her head high and her spirits light may be the one thing the disease could not fight back against.

And even though the disease took her in the end, in our opinion, she still won.

Because she never changed.

She was the same woman who left Arnissa, Greece, her parents Ioanni and Eleni, and her siblings Kata, Efi, and Christo, and came to Canada in April 1972 to meet her soon-to-be husband Alex (our dad), nervous about meeting him in person for the first time, worried that what she saw in pictures and what she heard from others was all fake and for his benefit. Little did anyone know that they would fall madly in love and stay together for 50 years until dad’s passing in 2022.

She was the same woman who raised two children, Tom and Mary, who showed them both what a true human being should be like. She set the example through her closeness to others, through her ability to bring warmth to many get togethers at their place, who was firm in her beliefs but was flexible with others’.

And when grandchildren came to be, she became the baba that the kids never knew they needed. A selfless person through and through, always willing to step in to help with Isabella, Alexander, Daniel, Sophia, or Michael, to help with the diaper changes, or the babysitting, or nagging our dad to ‘go get them from school’. She beamed every time she saw them. Near the end, it was their voices that she reacted to, not her own children’s.

Mom will be missed by many friends and acquaintances, but most of all by her family, who love her eternally. We appreciate everything you did for us, mom.

We love you.