Dempsey Prappas

Dempsey (Demosthenes) James Prappas died peacefully at home on Saturday the 18th of April 2015, in Iowa City, Iowa. He was the son of Greek immigrants born on the 11th of November 1924, in Detroit, Michigan to Antigone Lewis Prappas from Mytilini, Greece and James Prappas from Pergamos, Asia Minor. He attended Detroit Eastern High School in Michigan and graduated in June 1943. As a child during the Great Depression he had a paper route and also worked in his dad’s fish market.

After high school, he enrolled in Wayne State University in Detroit. His college career was interrupted when he was drafted and entered the Army on July 19, 1943, expecting and hoping to join the Air Force, but he discovered he was color blind. While at Fort Custer, Michigan, he volunteered to join the Greek Battalion in Camp Carson, Colorado where he learned Greek. When the battalion was dismantled he was transferred to the 80th Infantry Division where he joined the 317th Anti-Tank Company as a corporal. In May 1944, the entire division crossed the Atlantic on the Queen Mary and was stationed at a golf course near Goldborne, England.

As a member of the Greatest Generation, he landed with his division at Omaha Beach on D-Day 25th July 1944. Later the division joined General Patton’s Third Army as it pushed across France reaching the Moselle River in Alsace Lorraine. On the 3rd of September 1944, Dempsey was seriously injured by machine gun fire in Pont-à-Mousson, France. He spent 231 days in hospitals in France, U.K. and the U.S. recuperating and was honorably discharged on the 1st of May 1945. In recognition of his service he received a Purple Heart and a Bronze Star.

After WWII, he attended the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan on the GI Bill receiving a bachelor’s degree in political science in June 1948. Subsequently he attended The University of Michigan Law School in Ann Arbor and the University of Texas School of Law in Austin receiving his law degree in January 1953. As a law student he passed the Texas Bar and was licensed in August 1952. He formed his own law firm in 1964 where he practiced for 30 plus years. In 1989 he joined Texas Petrochemicals Corporation as general counsel and continued in private practice in Houston through 2009. He also served as Of Counsel with Butler and Binion for many years. He was a member of the State Bar of Texas and the Houston Bar Association for over 50 years.

He loved entertaining and travelling with his wife Mary, spending time in Galveston, playing backgammon, telling jokes, and writing 38 days of Combat recounting his WWII experience. He also enjoyed fishing with family and friends in Galveston, Texas lakes, and Brazil for peacock bass.

In addition to his family, Dempsey’s passion was philately which he pursued as a child and again as an adult. In his free time he attended stamp shows and entered competitions to share information and educate fellow enthusiasts. His renowned Falkland Islands stamp exhibit covering stamps from 1871 to 1933 received the multiple awards including the Grand Award at the Omaha, Nebraska National Stamp Show in 1992, which is the only Falkland Islands collection to have garnered a Grand Award in the U.S. In his displays, he shared the history of the small British colony through stamps. He participated in the 1993 World Series of Philately competition in Houston which exhibited collections from across the country. He also was a member of the Royal Philatelic Society.

He was a long standing member of St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, where he and Mary were married in 1953, and Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Houston, Texas serving on the Parish Council and as a member of the Archdiocesan Council. He also was a member of the American Hellenic and Professional Association (AHEPA).

After living in Houston for over 58 years, in 2012 Dempsey and Mary moved to Iowa where she grew up and attended college. They spent their time and resources actively supporting the University of Iowa College of Law and the Henry B. Tippie College of Business at the University of Iowa in Iowa City, Iowa.

He is survived by his loving wife Mary of 61 years, son James and daughter-in-law Kathryn, grandchildren Dempsey James Michael and Kathryn Elizabeth, brother George and sister-in-law Faye, cousins including Katherine Sakaly Brown, nieces and nephews including Anastasia Marie Chehak, Anne Clark, Elaine Prappas and Eva Prappas Kaiser, James A. Yiannias, and god children Niko Lorentzatos and John N. Papas.

The Prappas family will receive family and friends from five o’clock in the afternoon until half-past seven o’clock in the evening on Thursday, the 23rd of April, 2015, in the Jasek Chapel of Geo. H. Lewis & Sons, 1010 Bering Drive in Houston, with Trisagion Prayers commencing at half-past six o’clock in the evening.

The funeral service will be held at ten o’clock in the morning on Friday, the 24th of April 2015, at Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 3511 Yoakum Boulevard in Houston, with the Cathedral Clergy officiating. Interment will follow via an escorted cortege at Woodlawn Garden of Memories Cemetery, 1101 Antoine Drive in Houston.

Immediately following all are invited to greet the family during a Makaria luncheon to be held in the S.P. Martel Hall, adjacent to the church.

Honored to serve as active and honorary pallbearers, include Ted Dugey, Phil Dyer, Nicholas Jacomides, Jefferey Kaiser, Thomas J. Lykos Sr., George Milas, George Simos, Nick Stratigakis, John Springer, Pete Vossos, and W. M. Woodie.

In lieu of customary remembrances, the family requests that memorial contributions in Dempsey’s memory be made to Annunciation Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 3511 Yoakum Boulevard, Houston, Tx 77006, St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, 501 A Avenue N.E., Cedar Rapids, Iowa 52401, or the charity of your choice.