Christos Pappas

It is with great sadness the family announces the peaceful passing of Christos Lambros Pappas on Saturday, March 9th, 2024. Beloved husband to Ekaterini for the past 40+ years. Loving father of sons Lambros (Fareha), Stefanos, and daughter Theodora (Jerone). Adoring grandfather to Elias and Daniyah. Dear brother of Basile (Lizette), and Seraphym (Peppy) in Greece. Predeceased by father Lambros, mother Theodora, and sister Stamatia. Survived by multiple nieces, nephews, and cousins, locally and in Greece. Christos was born in the village of Katafygio, Karditsa, Greece. Life in the village was hard, but it was a happy life with his brothers and sister. His father passed away unexpectedly when Christos was 17, which made life much harder for him. He spent his high school years in Karditsa. Upon completing high school he served his two year mandatory term as an officer in the Greek military. His older brother immigrated to Canada in 1966 and Christos followed suit in 1972. He attended VCC, where he obtained his diploma as an electrician. He worked for several construction companies, he was proficient, skillful, professional, and was held in high regards among fellow electricians. As the time went by he realized the time had come to settle down. He journeyed to Greece and by good fortune he met and married his beautiful and lovely wife Ekaterini from the island of Rhodes. They returned to Canada and not long after their first son Lambros was born just over 9 months after their wedding, followed by Stefanos over a year later, and to their great joy their daughter Theodora was born almost a decade into their marriage. Stefanos was diagnosed with low functioning and no verbal autism, something relatively unheard of at the time. This caused left a wound on Christos’, to have his very own child dealing with a condition no one knew much about or that he could do anything about. Christos adored his children, and would always do what he could to spend time with them. He loved to take them fishing to various spots. A memorable trip the kids mutually share was a roadtrip to Alberta to visit the badlands. A selfless man with a heart of gold who appreciated the simple things in life, and always rejoiced for the happiness of others. One of his proudest moments was witnessing the marriage of his son, to his beautiful daughter in-law Fareha. Christos also felt great pride attending his daughter’s graduation from Kwantlen College, as an education assistant. The highlight of his life was the birth of his two grandchildren, Elias and Daniyah. His deteriorating health kept him from being physically present to his grand kids, but it was also the joy of having grandkids that kept him going. Seeing pictures and videos of them during their activities and time in daycare brought him great joy. When he was visited by his grandkids he loved to cuddle them and read the newspaper to them or to have them share their picture books with him. He would jokingly encourage them to break everything in their site (much in the same way as Greeks would smash plates during a celebration) as being around his grandkids was like that of a celebration to him. One of his passions was playing Tavli (backgammon) at the Greek Seniors Centre, where he would meet with friends. On his last day of life he was surrounded by family, in an environment filled with love, gentle touch, laughter, and comfort. When he drew his final breath it was like a sigh of relief, followed by a smile on his face. Obituary written by Lambros Pappas.

Funeral services will be held on Friday, March 22nd, 2024 at 10:30 AM at the St Nicholas and Dimitrios Greek Orthodox Church, 4541 Boundary Rd, Vancouver, BC, followed by a luncheon in the community hall downstairs. In lieu of flowers, please donate to the Alzeimers Society of Canada in honour of Christos.

He is Gone by David Harkins

You can shed tears that he is gone,

Or you can smile because he lived,

You can close your eyes and pray that he will come back,

Or you can open your eyes and see all that he has left.

Your heart can be empty because you can't see him

Or you can be full of the love that you shared,

You can turn your back on tomorrow and live yesterday,

Or you can be happy for tomorrow because of yesterday.

You can remember him and only that he is gone

Or you can cherish his memory and let it live on,

You can cry and close your mind be empty and

turn your back,

Or you can do what he would want:

smile, open your eyes, love and go on.

Fond memories and expressions of sympathy may be shared at www.MountPleasantFuneral.com for the Pappas family.