Athena Benekos Dalber
August 25, 2024
CHARLOTTE – Athena Benekos Dalber, deeply loved mother, grandmother, great-grandmother, aunt, cousin, godmother, koumbara, and friend to many, peacefully fell asleep in our Lord on Sunday, August 25, 2024 at the age of 98.
Born on June 1, 1926 in Tsintzina of Laconia, Greece, she grew up in the dual villages of Tsintzina (Polidroso) and Goritsa. Her summers were spent in the Parnonas mountain village of Tsintzina and the winters in the foothills village of Goritsa outside of the city of Sparta. During WWII her villages were occupied and terrorized by German troops as well as the Communist Guerrillas during the Greek Civil War. She was married to John Steve Dalber in 1946 in Sparta, Greece and shortly after she gave birth to a daughter Georgia and then later on to a son Stavros.
Athena came to America with her family in 1951. They eventually entered the restaurant business in Franklin/Oil City, PA. While living in Oil City, she gave birth to another daughter Sophia. Moving to Ithaca, NY in 1964, they opened a diner called “John's Luncheonette.” Retiring in 1976, they moved to Raleigh, NC. During her years in Raleigh, she worked as a master seamstress for an interior decorator which brought her much joy. Retirement offered her the flexibility to travel to New Hampshire and Massachusetts to spend long periods of quality time with her children and grandchildren whom she loved very much. Upon her husband’s death in 1993, she moved permanently to Boston, MA and then to Manchester, NH to be closer to her family. She moved to Charlotte, NC in 2015 where she was an active member of the Saint Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church community where she was loved by many.
Her passions were attending church services, gardening, cooking, baking, feeding people and spending time with her grandchildren and great-grandchildren. She was a devout Orthodox Christian always willing to share her faith with anyone who was interested. She loved visiting monasteries and made two trips to the Holy Land, one at the age of 90 and again at the age of 97.
Athena was preceded in death by her husband, John; her beloved parents, Panagiotis and Sophia Benekos; her brother, John Benekos; her sister-in-law, Lillian Hatzis Benekos; her daughter, Presbytera Georgia Chamberas and her grandson, Athan Chamberas. She is survived by her son, Fr. Steve Dalber and his wife, Presbytera Maria Argyroudis Dalber; daughter, Sophia Stringer and her husband, Roy Stringer; son-in-law, Fr. Peter Chamberas; grandchildren, Presbytera Anastasia Chamberas Leondis and her husband, Fr. Mark Leondis, Alexia Chamberas Silva and her husband, Jason Silva, Athena Dalber Kortesis and her husband, Dr. Bill Kortesis, Johanna Dalber, Athena Kyriakidis Lefever and her husband, Andy Lefever, Nicky Kyriakidis, and John Paul Dalber as well as great-grandchildren, Juliana and Alexander Leondis, Arianna and Alexia Lefever, Dean and Mary Ella Kortesis and Peter Silva. She also leaves behind beloved nephews, great-nieces/nephews, cousins, godchildren, koumbaroi and many close friends and Church family.
A visitation will be held from 5:30 -7:30 PM on Thursday, August 29, 2024 with a Trisagion Service at 6:00 PM at St. Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church. Funeral Services for Athena will be held at 11:00 AM on Friday, August 30, 2024, at St. Nektarios. The family will receive friends again one hour prior to the funeral service at the church. Interment will follow at Forest Lawn East Cemetery.
In lieu of flowers, the family requests donations be made to the Iconography Fund at Saint Nektarios Greek Orthodox Church, 5108 Kuykendall Road, Charlotte, NC 28270.
May Her Memory Be Eternal.
Arrangements are in the care of Kenneth W. Poe Funeral & Cremation Service, 1321 Berkeley Ave., Charlotte, NC 28204; (704) 641-7606. Online condolences may be shared at www.kennethpoeservices.com.
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