Our family has lost the best mother, grandmother and great-grandmother in the world. Theodora (Alexopoulos) Colomycki, 96, ied peacefully Thursday morning, September 22. She was surrounded by her loved ones at Penacook Place nursing home in Haverhill, MA.
Theodora, known to all as Teddy, was born in Kokino, Greece in 1914 and arrived in America aboard the SS Belevedere on March 29, 1920 with her mother, Efthimia, and brother, John. Waiting for his family at Ellis Island was her father, Peter Alexopoulos. The family settled in Ipswich, MA leaving George, her older brother (now deceased), in Greece. Teddy also had a sister, Florence (Alexopoulos) Christopher (now deceased) and a younger brother, William Alexopoulos. Teddy married John Joseph Colomycki in 1945 and moved to Newburyport to start their family.
Teddy's life and missions were simple. She never asked for or needed anything more than she already had. Like a lot of people from her generation, she always wanted to nurture her family with cooking and love. You may have seen Teddy walking in Newburyport on High Street or Low Street, always looking like a lady in her dress and heels. Having never received her driver's license, she remained extremely independent walking to her favorite places to shop. Teddy lived independently until she was 93 at which time she moved in with her daughter and eventually to Penacook Place nursing home.
Her husband, John, predeceases Teddy. She leaves behind her daughter, Linda Ford or Newburyport, her son, John Colomycki of Beverly, her grandchildren Stephen Ford of Newburyport, Jill (Cecil) Mandragouras and husband, David, of Newbury, her great-grandchildren Alexander and Harrison Mandragouras and Cade Ford, as well as many nieces and nephews and loving friends and family members.
It is with a heavy heart that the family will honor Teddy's wishes for a private memorial.