Mary (Koulouris) Margetis

Mary K. Margetis (Koulouris) was born October 22, 1920 in St. Paul, Minnesota.  As a young child she moved to Basta, Arcadia where her mother and father (Georgia Lambrakopoulos and Nicholas Koulouris) were born and raised.  When war was looming in Europe, they moved back to St. Paul permanently in 1936.

After completing high school, Mary took night courses at the University of Minnesota.  Unlike the expectations of the time, she didn’t enroll in home economics classes, but took Art and Music.  She moved to Chicago and worked as a bookkeeper for International Harvester and  took a second night job at Time Magazine to save money for travel to Greece.

Through her friend Lula Margetis, she met her husband (and Lula’s brother) Nick.  He showed up in full dress military uniform for their first date.  They were married in 1957, and had three children, Michael, Bill, and Georgiana, and one grandchild, Kristina.

She has been a member of the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church for over 65 years and a member of Philoptochos throughout.  In addition to her Church, she loved gardening, crafting, cooking, travel, and the many animals (both domestic and wild) she cared for.

Mary had a heart full of warmth, wisdom, and strength that was admired and never overlooked by anyone who met her.  Her stories and life advice were taken to heart by so many.  Her kindness and generosity to family, friends, and strangers was unsurpassed. She impacted every life she touched. Her wit and wisdom will live on forever through those lives.

She is survived by her children Michael Margetis, Bill (Wendy) Margetis, Georgiana Wilton, granddaughter Kristina Wilton (James Schwartz), and her sister Alexandra (Adam) Karavas.  She was preceded in death by her husband Nicholas Margetis, parents Nicholas and Georgia Koulouris, and three brothers.

Visitation will be held at 11:00 am on Wednesday, December 15th, with a funeral service at 12:00 pm at the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 11 N Seventh Street, Madison, Wisconsin.

In lieu of flowers, memorials may be made to the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church.