At the age of 104, Evangelia Katri, one of the oldest Greeks in Melbourne, devoted a large portion of her life to community service. She died away on Sunday.
The report was confirmed by her son, Nicholas Katris, a well-known Greek community member and past president of PRONIA.
Born in Heraklion, she grew up in Alexandria with her mother and older sister. In 1954, she migrated to Australia. She was only nine months old when her father left, and at the age of nine, her mother passed away. In Melbourne, she devoted a portion of her life to serving the community.
Looking back on a century of life, particularly her years as a Greek immigrant in Australia, Evangelia Katri found it difficult to distinguish between her role as a working woman, a wife, and a mother and her contribution to others. Being multilingual (she spoke five languages, including the dialect of Cyprus) and more educated than other immigrants at the time won her favor with agencies and groups that assisted immigrants. She extended her offer in full. Despite her insistence that there is no secret to life, she credited this contribution specifically for her longevity.
“Give to those who don’t have and to those who have less than you,” Evangelia Katri used to say, a core belief she led her entire life with and a phrase she would like to be remembered by.