THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, March 30, 1995 TAG: 9503300349
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B6 EDITION: FINAL
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Medium: 67 lines
Chrysoula Argeros Katsiaficas, 75, of the 600 block of Pembroke Ave., died after a courageous six-year battle with breast cancer, Tuesday evening, March 28, 1995, in her Norfolk residence with her two children and relatives at her side. She was the daughter of the late Mary Stavropoulos and John Michael Argeros, and was the widow of Lt. Col. Nicholas George Katsiaficas, U.S. Army, Retired.
Born in Cairo, Egypt, Chryse was raised there and on the Greek Island of Samos. In 1927, her family settled in Peabody, Mass., and she became a citizen of the U.S. A naturally talented athlete and musician, she was salutatorian of her Peabody High School class. In 1940 she graduated from the New England Conservatory of Music with a diploma in Pianoforte Normal. In 1969 she received a bachelor's degree in Music Education from the Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University and also began graduate studies.
She taught piano in the Boston area until her marriage in 1945. As an Army wife, she had three tours of duty in Germany and one in Taiwan, and also lived in Texas, California, New York and Baltimore, Md., where she taught and supervised music for 12 years in inner-city public schools. After her husband retired, they lived in Nashua, N.H.
Throughout her life, Chryse's enthusiasm and community service exemplified her unique ability to touch the lives of those around her. In Germany she helped start an orphanage and a nursery school and served as president for three years of women's clubs in the military. In Baltimore, her music choruses consistently placed at or near the top in state competitions, and she was area coordinator of the cancer fund drive. In Nashua, she served three terms in the New Hampshire House of Representatives, where she sponsored and secured passage of many bills concerning women's rights and environmental concerns. These included ground-breaking legislation such as the spousal exception rape law, hazardous waste laws, assistance to the elderly and the nuclear freeze initiative. She was a delegate to the White House Conference on Aging and the 1980 Democratic National Convention, an appointed member of the Governor's Committee on the Elderly, regional director of the American Heart Association, a member of the State Council on Aging, the Greater Nashua Human Services Council, Beyond War, and the American Association of University Women. She was a co-founder of the Hospice Program of Nashua, and founder and 10-year volunteer for their rape and assault crisis centers. In 1981, she was named ``Woman of the Year'' by the New Hampshire Federation of Business and Professional Woman's Clubs. She was a political fundraiser and campaign worker for presidential primaries and senatorial, gubernatorial and mayoral campaigns in three states. In Norfolk, she was a member of the League of Women Voters. She was a member of St. Phillip Greek Orthodox Church in Nashua, N.H.
She is survived by a daughter, Diane Katsiaficas-Gilbertson, a professor of Art at the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis; a son, George Nicholas Katsiaficas, a professor of Humanities at the Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston, Mass.; a sister, Dora Larsen of Chesapeake; a brother, Michael John Argeros of Hutchinson Island, Fla.; and two grandchildren.
A memorial service will be conducted at 2 p.m. Friday, March 31, 1995, in the Cox Funeral Home Chapel by Father George I. Paulson. In lieu of flowers, memorial contributions may be made to Lee's Friends, 618 Stockley Gardens, Norfolk, Va. 23507, or to Sentara's Hospice Program, 8 Koger Executive Center, Suite 201, Norfolk, Va. 23502. ILLUSTRATION: Personal Photo
KEYWORDS: DEATH OBITUARY
by CNB