Lola Kamaros Papaioanou

Lola K. Papaioanou, whose Depression-era youth in a cold water flat instilled a reverence for hard work, leading to a college romance that became a 70-year love story of enduring devotion, died January 6, 2024 at Concord Hospital with her children by her side. She was 92 years old.

Lola was born Stavroula Kamaros on November 15, 1931 in Enfield, Connecticut. Her parents, Charles and Mary Kamaros, emigrated from the village of Agiasos on the Greek island of Lesvos.

Lola met her husband Bob Papaioanou at American International College in Springfield, MA. After Bob graduated from Tufts Medical School in Boston, the couple moved their growing family to Amesbury, where Dr. Bob went into private practice with Lola running the office's front desk. While it was her husband’s name on the sign outside the door, it was Lola who kept his burgeoning career and their busy family life in harmony. Until his dying day, Bob credited his wife as the source of every success and joy in their seven decades together. Indeed, such was their partnership that their first names essentially merged. To their many friends they were simply “Bob-n-Lola”. When the family moved to Haverhill, Lola found she enjoyed teaching business classes at Haverhill and Pentucket High Schools; shorthand was her specialty.

Lola’s intellectual curiosity was lifelong; she sent family members letters – and, later, emails – with newspaper articles she thought they should read, book recommendations she’d heard on NPR, and listings for upcoming concerts on PBS. She loved dogs, especially German Shepherds, and life on the water. Friends and family were always welcome; it was helpful if they had a competitive streak. Lola showed no mercy – not to her husband, not even to her grandchildren – in games of cards and scrabble, though she would bring out homemade Greek cookies for winners and losers alike. Shared passions for music – Broadway, classical, country, big band – and the arts were lifelong mother-daughter bonds. Lola also had the role of grandmother (Yiayia) down pat: homemade muffins for breakfast and a pot roast for supper, plus an alert ear for any grandchild using sloppy grammar, which would bring dinner to a screeching halt.

In addition to her parents and beloved husband of 70 years, Lola was predeceased by her dear sisters Alice Anagnostou and Anne George, several nieces and nephews, in-laws Vasilike and Louis Papaioanou, and many friends for whom she had great affection.

Lola is survived by her: cherished sisters Aspacia Duffy, Dorothy Capsolas, Iris Staub, and families; daughters and husbands Maria Papaioanou Gray, Vicki and John Murphy, Iris and Clyde Hardin, Amy and Jim Moffett; grandchildren and partners Jack Gray, Rose and Jon Moore , Caitlin and Raimond Gertsev, Krista Murphy and Patrick Sullivan, Riley Murphy, Louis Roberts and Mary Quigley, Adam Roberts, Madeline McGonagle and Quinn Estep; step-grandchildren and partners Sarah Hardin and Maggie Starr, Laura Hardin and Patrick Lau, Philip Hardin, Caleb Moffett; great-grandchildren Lucy Moore, Henry and Sophia Gertsev, Patrick and Seamus Sullivan, Toby and Riley Starr, and Cleo and Tully Lau.

Mrs. Papaioanou’s family wishes to thank the loving staff and residents of John H. Whitaker Place and the doctors and nurses at Concord Hospital.

Arrangements are private. In lieu of flowers, and in honor of Mrs. Papaioanou’s many years of care for her husband, donations can be made to the Alzheimer's Association at alz.org or 15 Constitution Dr Suite 1G, Bedford, NH 03110.