Angela Catramadou Parker

On the morning of June 2, 2015, Angela passed away in her home in Phoenix, AZ, of natural causes. She was born in Alexandria, Egypt, the second of Maria and Michael Catramados’s four children. Angela and her siblings spent their formative years in an orphanage where Angela’s life-long passion for writing began. Angela comforted herself and the younger children by writing and telling stories. As a teenager, Angela began reporting on the growing unrest she saw on streets around her and how it was impacting the large Greek community living in Egypt. It wasn’t long before her stories were picked up by newspapers back in Greece where her work caught the attention of editors looking to create a new magazine. And in late 1951, Angela was appointed a foreign correspondent for Gynaika, the first Greek magazine for women.

Angela’s early work for Gynaika, which saw its first issue published in February 1952, involved documenting the chaotic events leading up to the Egyptian Revolution in July 1952. Shortly after the Revolution, she moved to Athens Greece along with her mother, brother, and sister. Fluent in four languages, Angela began traveling around the world to interview interesting public figures and write in-depth profiles of them for Gynaika. Eleanor Roosevelt, Frank Sinatra, Elizabeth Taylor, Ava Gardner, Coco Chanel, Tony Curtis, Janet Leigh, and Melina Mercouri were among the many public figures she met and wrote about. She also traveled back to Egypt and using her many connections, was able to land a joint interview of Gamal Abdel Nasser and Anwar Sadat, two of the architects of the Egyptian Revolution. Angela’s feature-length article vividly described the challenges Nasser and Sadat were facing in building a new republic, while also showing the softer side of two men who would both go on to serve as President of Egypt.

U.S. Navy Chief Petty Officer James W. Parker was instantly smitten with Angela when he met her at a party at the Canadian Embassy in Athens, where she worked. After a short courtship, they were married in 1955 and the Canadian Ambassador to Greece gave the bride away. Angela followed Jim to several additional postings around the world before he retired from the Navy. The couple settled in Phoenix and in 1965, Angela gave birth to her life’s greatest joy, her son John Paul. Angela’s marriage to Jim ended, but they remained close friends until the end of his life in 2008.

While motherhood kept Angela busy and largely fulfilled, she also wanted to keep learning and challenging herself. She decided to seek a college degree and was accepted by Arizona State University. Angela attended classes part-time and in the evenings, while also balancing her job as a mom, freelance journalist, and court interpreter. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Bachelor’s degree in Communications in 1978. Angela decided to also write a novel in English. Her first book, Lydia, was published in 1981 and her second book, Aisha, was published in 2001. Both novels were historical fiction set in Greece and Egypt, respectively.

If her son was her greatest joy, Angela’s grandson was her greatest inspiration. She absolutely loved being a Yiayia to Joshua, born in 1999. Despite living across the country from her grandson, she spent a great deal of time with him over summers and school holidays. It was through her time with him that she saw she had a gift for teaching and working with children. So late in life she left her longtime job working at the fine fragrance counter at Dillard’s in Scottsdale, AZ, to become a teacher’s aide in the Phoenix public schools. She held that job until she retired about two years ago.

Angela was preceded in death by her mother Maria (1992), her sister Theodossia (1984), her brother John (2009), her brother Anastasis (1934), and her former husband James (2008). She is survived by her son John Paul Parker (Patti), grandson Joshua Parker, nieces Mary Prutch (Chris), and Angela Boundy (Peter), nephews Aris Scarla and Peter Catramados (Carlene). Her extended family includes cousin Loula King, grandnieces and grandnephews, Nicholas Prutch, Christina Prutch, William Scarla, Shelby Scarla, Paige Scarla, Alexandria Catramados, Gabrielle Wood, Monica Boundy, Sarah Boundy, James Boundy, Adam Shields, Zachary Wood and Samuel Wood and best friends Maria Tobras, Louie Pantazopoulos and George Tompras.

A small sunset gravesite service for family will be held at 6:30 pm on Tuesday June 16th 2015 at Greenwood Memory Lawn Cemetery.