Soterios (Sam) Todis passed away peacefully at home on January 19, 2023, surrounded by his family whom he held so dear, the family which cherished him beyond measure. He was 90 years old.

Sam was magical. Quiet and knowing, with piercing blue eyes and a quick smile, he was an intense, active listener, and an endless wellspring of humor, storytelling and joy, lighting up every room he entered.Born and raised in the highest mountain village of Greece, Fourka, on July 1,1932, Sam was a mountain man in signature ways. An autodidact, he was resourceful, reliable, humble, hardworking, and capable of great concentration. He was small in stature but famously strong.

Sam came of age during WWII and the ensuing Greek Civil War. His stories about those times are legendary, filled with Dickensian trauma, Melvillian adventure and unsung heroes. He led a truly remarkable young life, which filled him with his deepest held beliefs that he lived by for the rest of his life: family, truth, honor, duty, work, and the importance of those small moments or actions that bring cheer, comfort or wonder to everyday life.

Simply put, his mission & purpose in life was to take care of his family, and for everyone to be happy.

Sam met the love of his life, Stamatoula Haloulakos, a brilliant seamstress, in 1968. Smitten by a photograph of her, he traveled to Greece to meet her and after a 6 month courtship they married in her sunny village of Yitheio. Together they returned to the US, where they lived in Milton for 53 years until they moved to Canton in 2021.

Together Sam and Toula raised 3 talented, charming and devoted daughters, Eleni, Victoria and Cleopatra.  It was a great source of pride for him that his daughters got the college education they needed to become independent, confident and successful.

A master carpenter, Sam learned his trade from his father. In Boston, he earned his way into the Carpenters' Local Union 51, retiring in 1994. Driving around town with Sam was endlessly fascinating and fun, his memory a steel trap full of tales of buildings and neighborhoods he had worked in on just about every street in Boston.

Sam loved his wife's cooking, a good fish-fry by the ocean, Boston Cream Pie, and listening and dancing to Eperotika, clarinet folk music from his home region. He had the opportunity to attend the panigiri festival of the Virgin Mary one last time this past summer in Fourka, where he danced with family and friends. There wasn't a dry eye in the house.

Stories of Sam's kindness, compassion and generosity with his time, money and skills are endless. He helped people. All kinds of people – family both close and distant, friends, friends of friends, neighbors and strangers.  It is fair to say that Sam is one of those rare people for whom it is impossible to find someone who didn't like and respect him.

A deeply religious man, he always wished and prayed that at the end he would be allowed to pass at home, in the caring embrace of the family he so magnificently guided, quietly and peacefully.

His prayer was granted and now he is free to walk endlessly to his heart's content, free to roam the hillsides, forests, and wildflower-specked fields of his beloved village of Fourka, high up in the mountains, where his spirit will soar and he will join the loved ones waiting for him.

Soterios was the anchor of an extended family of Greek Americans in and around Boston numbering near 80. He is survived by his beloved wife Stamatoula Haloulakos; daughters Eleni Papakonstantinou and her husband John, Victoria Todis and her partner Marston Allen, and Cleopatra Todis and her husband Dieter Wagner; his grandchildren Georgio and Sotiri Papakonstantinou; his brother Konstantino Todis and his wife Aspasia; his sisters Despina Tsoumbanos and her husband Demetrios, Aliki Patoucheas and her husband Yianni, Effie Nikolaou and her husband Yianni; His brother-in-law Nick Mandilas, his sister-in-law Mersina Todis and many nieces and nephews. He is predeceased, by his sister Zoitsa Mandilas and brother George Todis.

If the measure of a man is the quality of his children, the depth of his love for his wife, and a long legacy of kindnesses writ large and small, then Sam was one of one, a magnificent example of what a successful life looks like from the outside,and feels like from the inside. He will be missed, and celebrated, by all who knew him.

Funeral Service on Tuesday, January 24, 2023 at St. Nectarios Greek Orthodox Church, 39 Belgrade Avenue, Roslindale, MA at 11AM.  Visitation prior to the Service from 10AM to 11AM at the church. Relatives and friends are kindly invited to attend.  In lieu of flowers, donations in his memory may be made to the above named church.  Burial in The Gardens Cemetery, West Roxbury, MA.