Helen Stavros Kotseas, our loving and lovable mother, grandmother, great-grandmother and sister, passed to another place in time shortly before midnight on July 13, 2012. Helen (Eleni) was married for sixty-six years to Charles H. Kotseas who predeceased her by three months. Their love gave life to four daughters, Paula Anderson, Connie DiVincentis, Andrea Kotseas and Vickie McMahon who are fortunate to have wonderful memories of family unified by culture, relatives and friends, emphasis on education and unconditional love with the spirit of caring and sharing for others. Helen was a woman born fifty years too early, for her thinking was contemporary, reflective and cosmopolite. Helen was intelligent, humorous, overly generous and kind, a woman to be admired and respected and loved for the superlative person she was. Helen was true, pure, honest, selfless and wore a smile that reflected her inner self-acceptance. Helen gave from her heart, naturally and endlessly. Her successes are enumerated by the number of hearts she touched.
Helen leaves her daughter, Paula Anderson, and grandson, Brett C. Anderson, her daughter, Andrea Kotseas, and granddaughters, Cali and Cristi O’Connor, her grandson, Marc Anthony DiVincentis , his wife, Danielle, and great-grandson, Anthony Marc DiVincentis, her daughter, Vickie McMahon, and her husband, George McMahon, and grandsons, Christopher Pierson and Nicholas McMahon. Helen was predeceased by her precious and brave daughter, Connie DiVincentis. Now, Charlie and Helen will be together forever with their daughter, Connie. Helen is survived by two brothers, John Stavros and his wife, Wanda, and Charles Stavros. Her brothers, Demo, Arthur and George, and sister, Esther Chiriaco, predeceased her.
All that Helen did and accomplished in her life was reflective of the spirit of volunteerism. She worked tirelessly for the church, St Spyridon Cathedral, in numerous club capacities, as a choir member and as an organist. She worked behind the scenes as the bookkeeper wearing many hats to support Charlie and his brother building their business. Helen worked as an instructional assistant in the ESL program for the Worcester Public Schools, and worked with two teachers to create the ESL curriculum in its genesis over forty years ago. Helen and Charlie spent twenty summers in Kyparissia, Greece, connecting to their ethnic roots and communing with the beauty of the Hellenic landscapes.
A private service so Helen’s family could say their prayers for her prior to interment was held at O’Connor Brothers Funeral Home, Worcester, officiated by Father Dean Paleologos. If you would like to make a donation in the honor and memory of Helen Kotseas, the Family Center Building Fund of St Spyridon Cathedral was dear to her heart.
Helen lived life anonymously but with passion, elan, vigor and joy. In her spirited way she always said, “The first hundred years are the hardest.” She almost made it! Eleni, the last of the great dames. Mommy, we love you always and forever.