Dr. Andreas Kostas Poulakidas

On May 10, 2023, Andreas entered into the eternity of God at the age of 88. He was born on May 20, 1934, in Philiatra, Messinias, Greece to his parents, Rev. Kostas and Presbytera Roula (Zafiroula Antonaropoulou) Poulakidas, On November 1936 he, along with his parents and sister, Christina, boarded the Italian ocean liner Saturnia for America where his father, a priest of the Greek Orthodox Church, was assigned to serve the spiritual and ethnic needs of his compatriots at Holy Trinity in Tulsa, Oklahoma. On the way to America, once the ocean liner passed Gibraltar and entered into the Atlantic Ocean, his brother, Sakee (Dionysius), was born near the Azores Island. In Tulsa his brother, Thomas (Athanasios) and his sister, Ange (Angeline) were born. Andreas attended kindergarten there, but was held back a year since he did not know or speak English.

His father as a teacher was very capable in enabling Andreas to receive a solid foundation in Greek and in preparing him to be a competent and confident chanter in the Orthodox Church by teaching him Byzantine hymnography and hymnology. His father had transmitted somewhat his beautiful tenor voice to his son, but it turned out Andreas was a baritone. In 1952 he graduated from high school in Dallas,Texas and enrolled that year at Holy Cross Greek Orthodox Seminary in Brookline, Massachusetts. It was there that he became aware that he was afflicted with thalassemia (Cooley’s Anemia).

After completing the collegiate years at Holy Cross, he decided to study Orthodox theology at the University of Athens in Greece. In September, 1955 he boarded the ocean liner, Nea Hellas, and arrived in Athens. He would say those were the most idyllic years of his life as he came to know his place of birth and his many close relatives. Having been placed in the second year of academic studies and after passing the comprehensive exams, he graduated from the School of Theology with a M.Th. degree in 1959. Returning to America he arrived in Phoenix, Arizona where his father had been assigned to serve the Church. Not having any definite plans he enrolled in the English Department of Arizona State University where in 1962 he was awarded his M.A. degree. With the encouragement and guidance of L. M. Myers, Dean of Languages and Literatures, he was directed to pursue doctoral studies in comparative literature at Indiana University. He packed up his 1948 Chevy Coupe and drove to Bloomington, Indiana. After two years of course work, language and comprehensive exams, he found a teaching position at The Maryland Institute: College of Art in Baltimore where he taught for three years and in the process was writing his doctoral dissertation on Nikos Kazantzakis. There he met Mary Samaras from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and they married in 1966. Living in the Bolton Hill area where the Sarbanes resided, they became ardent supporters of Paul during his early political endeavors.

After being awarded his Ph.D. in comparative literature in 1967 Andreas and Mary moved to Muncie, Indiana, where he had been hired to teach English and comparative (world) literature in the English Department of Ball State University and where he taught for 29 years until his retirement in 1996. Along with he other academic pursuits and responsibilities he became a member of the Anderson Ahepa Chapter, serving in various offices and also on the Hoosier District Lodge #12, and received in 1996 The Prometheus Award. He published over three dozen articles on Nikos Kazantzakis; a book of poetry, From Byzantium to Suburbia, dedicated to his father; “A Defense of the Serbian People” (published in the 1994 issue of the Serbian Orthodox Newsletter); and a number of letters in defense of monasticism and the establishment of monasteries by Elder Ephraim. He has written an unpublished documentary novel, “The Memoirs and Memos of a Middletown Educator,” (a continuation of the sociological studies in understanding the makings of an American, but this time within the confines of an institution of higher learning).

In some ways Andreas bore the mentality of the English romantic poet Shelley. He was very impatient and intolerant of man’s inhumanity to man, of the countless wars that occurred over his lifetime, of the depravity of human nature, and of the injustices, cowardice, and mediocrity from those in high positions.

And yet he was a happy man. Living in an extremely secularized, chaotic, and uncertain world, he found comfort and meaning in the beauty and saving grace of his Greek Orthodox Church; he would love to chant at various church services, to teach those who wanted to learn; to read great books; to garden and grow vegetables in this back yard; to feed the birds; and above all, he awaited impatiently for Labor Day to pass to pack his car and drive to Green Lake, Wisconsin. Driving from Phoenix to the Midwest and back, he would marvel at the majesty of the land and the agricultural abundance and wealth of America.

He is survived by his patient and caring wife, Mary, by his accomplished and thoughtful son Kostas (Madeline Hirakis), his three charming granddaughters: Maria, Ana, and Thea, and by his accomplished and thoughtful daughter, Angela; also by his siblings: Christina (Peter) Maydanis, Sakee (Irene Manetas), and Ange (Alex) Pappas. To Ange and her daughters Kathryn (William) Petsas, Jacquelyn Petroulakis, and Dena (Christos) Economopoulos he is grateful for their many kindnesses and hospitalities. He is proud of all his nieces and nephews for their accomplishments. He was predeceased by his parents, his brother-in-law, Alex Pappas, and by his brother and sister-in-law Thomas and Aliki (Anagnos) Poulakidas.

A Trisagion Service will be held at 9:00 AM, Funeral service 10:00 AM, and the funeral service at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 1973 East Maryland Avenue, Phoenix, Arizona, 85016, followed by interment at Greenwood Cemetery. Donations in his memory can be made to Holy Trinity Cathedral or Hospice of the Valley, 1510 E. Flower Street, Phoenix, AZ 85014.