Anna Elizabeth Barakos

September 2, 1938 - October 6, 2021

Anna Elizabeth Barakos was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on September 2, 1938 as the 16th child out of 18 children to Michael and Margaret Gregorius. She attended St. Michael’s Grade School in South Side (Pittsburgh) and graduated from 8th grade in 1953. After graduation, she went to work to help contribute to the large family. Her first job was at St Michael’s Convent working in the kitchen with the nuns, then at a hospital in Pittsburgh in the Central Service department in the operating room packaging instruments & cleaning up the operating area for the surgeons. Her last job was as an elevator operation at the Sheraton Hotel in downtown Pittsburgh. She met Gerasimos (Jerry) Barakos in 1959 at the Sheraton hotel where he was a busboy for the restaurant. They got married by the justice of the peace in Pittsburgh in June of 1960, and then traveled to Kefalonia, Greece (where Jerry immigrated from) to spend the summer with his family and to be married in the church in August 1960. They returned to Pittsburgh and had two children between 1961 & 1963 - Dennis and Maria. They then decided to move to Hollywood California in 1963 for better job opportunities, where Jerry began working at fine restaurants as a waiter (including The Brown Derby and The Velvet Turtle) while Anna became a homemaker. In 1966 they had their 3rd child, Nick. The family then moved into their forever home in Arleta (located in the San Fernando Valley) in 1968.

In the late 1970’s and early 1980’s Anna went back to work as a housekeeper for Motel 6 in Sepulveda, California. She became a grandmother between 1981-2000 to 4 grandchildren (Felicia, Rudy, Jeremy, and Monika) and 2 step-grandchildren (Ashley & Krista), and in 2003 became a great-grandmother to Jonathan. In 2006, her husband Jerry of 45 years passed away. She continued to live on her own in her house, attending St Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church, traveling numerous times to see her sisters and brothers in Pittsburgh, visited her son and his family in Minnesota where she accompanied them on several road trips, and went on family cruises to Mexico in 2009 and Alaska in 2016. She enjoyed going to many school presentations & graduations for all of her grandkids, walked them home in grade school, and enjoyed hopping in the car and coming along for the ride to anywhere. She also loved going shopping, reading about family and friends on Facebook, watching TV shows and movies on video, doing word search and crossword puzzles, taking long walks in the neighborhood, spending time with her lady friends, and was a big Elvis fan her whole life. She was a very devout Christian who fervently prayed her prayer list morning and night.

She remained very active until she passed away unexpectedly at her home on October 6, 2021. She is preceded in death by her parents (Michael & Margaret), 13 siblings (Michael, Rita, Ray, Francis, Herman, George, Mildred, Gilbert, Marie, Joe, Bernard, and 2 unnamed siblings that died before/at birth); husband Jerry, and granddaughter Felicia. She is survived by her brothers Benny and Paul, sisters Theresa and Agnes, over 50 nieces and nephews across the United States; her sons Dennis (Sharon) and Nick (Stephanie), and her daughter Maria (Cesar Cebreros); grandchildren Rudy, Jeremy, and Monika, step-grandchildren Ashley (David) and Krista (Ryan), granddaughter Felicia’s husband Steven Correa and great-grandson Jonathan.

Her visitation will be held on Wednesday, November 10th at Eternal Valley Memorial Park & Mortuary (23287 Sierra Highway Newhall, CA 91321) at the Chapel Hill facility from 4:00 - 8:00pm with a short Trisaigon service at 7pm. A funeral service will be held on Thursday, November 11th at 12:00 pm at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church (9501 Balboa Blvd. Northridge, CA 91325). Her final resting place will be beside her husband Jerry at Eternal Valley Memorial Park with graveside prayers at 2:00pm on November 11th.

May her memory be eternal!