Euterpe Papatheodorou

(Effie) Papatheodorou, age 97 passed away on December 17, 2018  surrounded by her loving family. She was one of six children; brothers Peter, John and Spero, sister Loukia (all deceased) and brother Kosta. Born on March 30, 1921 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin to Elias and Alexandra Stilianopoulou. Her family moved to Kalamata, Greece at the age of 3. Graduated Emboriki Sxoli in Kalamata and married Christo Papatheodorou. They had four children; Evdokia (Avi), Alexandra (Lexie), Phillip (deceased) and Chrysavgi (Dawn). She travelled to the United States every four years to renew her citizenship and eventually the entire family moved to USA in 1956. They settled in Newark and moved to Elizabeth, NJ. Attended St. Demetrios, Newark where she was very active with the Philoptochos and served as president for 8 years. Effie was known as a “peace-maker”. Worked for RCA records and Whites Laboratories for many years. Upon retirement she moved to Holiday, Florida with her late husband Christo and had a very happy and active life where she served as president of Hellenic Benevolent and Hellenic American organizations and officer of Prometheas of Tarpon Springs, Fla.

Effie was known for her joy of life! She was a great mother and grandmother who loved, cherished, cared for her family and the less fortunate. She had a heart of gold and visited nursing homes and distributed home baked pastries to Greek residents on various holidays.

She is survived by daughters Avi, Lexie, Dawn, son-in-law Costa, daughter-in-law Janeen, grandchildren; Yiana, Chris, Debbie, Danny, Chris, Jamie, Dana, Erica, Natalie and Elliott, great-grandchildren; Stuart, Alex, George, Ava, Dean, Nicholas, Alex, Liana, Laura, Gianna, Owen, and niece Evdokia.

Memorial Service will be held at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 250 Gallows Hills Road, Westfield NJ on Friday, December 21, 2018 at 11:00 AM.  In lieu of flowers, you may make a donation in her memory to Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church and Ladies Philoptochos Society.

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