My mother, Alexandra Psinakis, fell asleep in the arms of the Lord, Sunday evening June 26th at Massachusetts General Hospital from pneumonia complications after fracturing her hip in a fall on Sunday, May 29th. One of my mother's favorite Greek quotations was: "Opios viazetai, skontafi." "Whoever rushes, trips and falls." That's exactly what happened. My mother wanted to live, to love, to laugh, to celebrate good times and old times with her family and friends. 95 years young. Fortunately, our George was home in Boston, presenting a seminar at Tufts University, our alma mater. I believe that my mother was fighting off the pneumonia, long enough for George to come home last Thursday. If you would like to visit us all together on Wednesday, June 29th from 5:00pm - 8:00pm, we will be at the Faggas Funeral Home, 551 Mt. Auburn St., Watertown, MA. Viewing will also take place on Friday, July 1st at the Frank Duca Funeral Home, 1622 Menoher Boulevard, Johnstown, PA, followed by funeral services on Saturday, July 2nd at St. Mary's Greek Orthodox Church, 435 Somerset Street, Johnstown, PA. Burial at Grandview Cemetary. Although my mother and I fought (oh, yes, we did) throughout my life, I know that she always loved me and wanted the best of everything for me. Her love and pride exploded with joy upon the birth and growth of her grandson, George Psinakis Rausch. My mother loved her family, her sons-in-law, and extended family, loved all of her friends from Greece, Europe and from around the United States. My mother also loved to work (until age 80), loved to dress beautifully, loved music, loved politics and the news, loved the ocean and loved Boston. My mother, Alexandra Koutsopetras Psinakis, was an elegant, intelligent, highly educated woman (female lawyer graduating in 1941), who was a linguist speaking four languages, as well as a trained pianist and opera mezzo-soprano. My mother was a force of nature. As her gerontologist declared this past Sunday, "Your mother re-defined the word feisty'." My mother, known as Sasa or Sasha, was also a brave, courageous woman, a fighter for her family, a fighter for justice. When her youngest brother, Potaki, got "shell-shocked" (post-traumatic stress) after the WWII Greek battle against the invading Italian Fascists starting in October 1941, my mother bribed the Greek mistress to the Nazi commandant who took over my Yiayia's house to get passes for her brother, for a doctor and for herself. She took my uncle to the Wagner Psychiatric Clinic in Vienna, Austria. That train trip took two weeks, with many unplanned stops by the Nazis. My mother was her brother's guardian and translator from 1942 - 1947. Kyria Sasa, as George and I liked to call her, worked/volunteered for the Greek Embassy in Vienna, continued opera studies, and, as she said, "learned to survive", helping not only her brother, but her new Viennese friends. She also survived a Nazi challenge to cut off her hand when she presented a limp hand salute at Police Headquarters. In1947, from war-torn Vienna, with no communications to/from her family in Greece, living in the Russian-controlled sector, my mother managed to write, asking for assistance (that she wanted to repay in the future), to three Greek-American businessmen living in the US. Only my bachelor father, George Psinakis, responded. My mother then proceded to arrange her own marriage to my father, who eventually traveled to Vienna to meet and marry her and bring her to Johnstown, PA in December 1947. She did not see her mother or other siblings from 1942 - 1954. My mother was also the most generous person I have ever known, or will ever know. Generous to her extended family and friends, as well. When raising me as a young, widowed single mother in Johnstown, PA, she gave me the best private lessons and education available, dressed me beautifully, and traveled with me to Greece and Europe "to open my eyes to culture, beauty, and history". Her greatest gift to me, I believe, was "allowing" me to attend Tufts University in Greater Boston and to study abroad in Paris, when she really wanted me to study closer to home in Pittsburgh. My mother's memory continued to be extraordinary. She remembered, and wrote for me, Greek proverbs and sayings; she could recite her Greek Independence Day poems learned in childhood and sing Greek folk songs and operatic arias. My mother also helped me learn our ancestry by tracing her family's genealogy, sharing the details and stories of her life, her family, and of me in video and audio tapes created by her grandson. My mother was passionately proud of her Petropoulakis, Greek Independence revolutionary heritage. "I am a Maniata!" she proudly declared, "from Gythio, Lakonia, Greece." Every time I drove her past the Greek Consulate on Beacon Street, Boston, my mother would wave at the blue and white flag and sing the Greek national anthem. However, my mother was even more passionately proud to be an American. She always voted. She knew that her preferred lifestyle was more American than Greek, although she treasured every visit to her homeland. She always appreciated the United States of America as being The Land of Opportunity. My mother was eternally grateful to live her life in the US and, finally, in Boston. AXIA, Mama, Axia! I will miss you and love you every day of my life. May My Mother's Memory Be Eternal. Always, --Poppy Poppy Psinakis Patterson