Clotilde Chaves Zannetos, beloved mother, grandmother, and aunt, higher education executive, and servant to others passed away on April 24th from complications due to the Corona virus. She was quiet, humble, and dedicated to helping every person she met – caring for friends who were ill, free with her time to all, and committed to every community of which she was part.
Clotilde was born in Boston in 1936 and grew up in Arlington, Massachusetts, the only child of Irene and Americo Chaves, and excelled at ballet. Receiving an invitation to study with a prestigious ballet company, she instead enrolled to study at Bates College. But she returned to Boston after her freshman year to study at Simmons College, to be closer to her future husband, the late Professor Zenon Zannetos, whom she had met while both were wait staff at the MIT Faculty Club.
Clotilde spent the first part of her adult life supporting her husband and raising her children. When her husband became seriously ill, Clotilde re-entered the workforce working for her alma mater, Simmons College, in Development and eventually as Director of Admissions. She remained involved with Simmons throughout her life, earning the Simmons’ Distinguished Alumnae Award for her service to the school. She departed Simmons to become Vice President of Resource Development and Enrollment Management at Regis College, where her greatest joy was mentoring interns and work study students. Her dedication to helping Regis was so complete that many at the college were surprised to find out that she wasn’t a nun.
She was deeply involved in the Greek Orthodox Church and Greek Community, with such commitment that many assumed that she was of Greek ancestry. She was a long time parishioner of St. Demetrios Church in Weston, where she served for years in the Philoptochos charitable organization, helped organize church group trips to the Holy Land, Russia, Spain and Portugal, and for years would faithfully decorate the church for Holy Week with her friends. She was also an active member of the Hellenic Women’s Club EOK, one of the oldest Greek-American philanthropic groups in the country, and with the Immigrant Learning Center, which offers free English classes to immigrant and refugee adults.
After her husband’s death in 1987, she helped found the Emma Rogers Society at MIT, an outreach group to widows and widowers of MIT faculty and staff – to help spouses continue to be connected to and feel welcome at the Institute. She also established a scholarship for MIT students, and a career development professorship at MIT in honor of her late husband. She also served as a member of the Board of Trustees of the Saint Elizabeth Hospital Foundation and of Aquinas Junior College.
She leaves her daughter Cynthia and son-in-law Jon Peltier, daughter Ianthe and son-in-law David McCarthy, son Christopher and daughter-in-law Jennifer Zannetos, and son Stephen and daughter-in-law Alexa Zannetos – and grandchildren Christina Peltier and her husband Stephen Lazos, Nicole Peltier and her fiancé Jake Arthur, Mariana Peltier, Matthew McCarthy and his fiancé Jane Saldom, Mark McCarthy, Anna Zannetos, Andrew Zannetos, Catherine Zannetos, and Sophia Zannetos.
The family would like to thank the healthcare workers and staff at Newton Wellesley Hospital and at The Falls at Cordingly Dam for their compassionate care of Clotilde in this time in which family members are unable to be with their loved ones - and for expanding their already heavy responsibilities to hold video calls for family members to see and talk with her. Their dedication is inspiring.
Due to COVID-19 restrictions a small, private funeral will be held at St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church in Weston. In lieu of flowers, donations may be made in Clotilde’s memory to the Mass General Institute for Neurodegenerative Disease, at www.mghmind.org.