Bess Dimpapas Glastris

Bess Glastris By Paul GlastrisIt has taken me several days to summon the will to let you all know the sad news that our beloved mother, Bess “Vasiliki” Dimpapas Glastris, has passed away. She was admitted to North Shore University Evanston Hospital Wednesday afternoon complaining of extreme fatigue. Early Thursday morning she suffered a massive heart attack. She died two hours later. She was not in pain, and my brothers Bill and George and sister-in-law Carolyn were by her side the whole time, with me on the phone and the grandkids furiously texting each other. To say that someone who lived to be 93 ½ years old left this earth too soon may sound odd. But if you knew our mom you know what I mean. Her mind was so sharp, her comportment so dignified, her facial features so lovely, her stamina for conversation so great, her hunger for information (the latest political news; details, no matter how small, about the lives of her family and friends) so undiminished, that people were shocked when they learned how old she was. And so we are still in shock, even as were recognize that she lived a full and amazing life. She was born in St. Louis in 1924 to Greek immigrant parents; lived through the Depression and WWII; had a pioneering career at KWK Radio-TV in St. Louis; married a man (the late William V. Glastris Sr.) who adored her; taught Sunday school, sang in the choir, and worked the festivals at St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox; housed and cared for her mother Olympia for decades; had three sons and five grandchildren who couldn’t get enough of her; was integral to the lives of her siblings, in-laws, cousins, nieces and nephews in far-flung U.S cities and in Greece and India (the homeland of my late wife Kukula, with whom she was extremely close); was the voice talent for many radio commercials produced by Glastris-Manning/Courtesy Checks Advertising and Public Relations Group, our father’s small company; manned the visitors booth at the St. Louis Convention Center and gave tours of the city to scores of out-of-town journalists and dignitaries; kept a spotless home and cooked hearty Greek and American meals that were the subject of awe and study; was the saintly caretaker of our dad during the challenging last decade-plus of his life; and built a network of friends, neighbors, and fellow parishioners of St. Nicholas and residents of The Mather retirement community in Evanston that was as rich and complicated as a Tolkien novel. A woman such as this deserves an epic and celebratory sendoff, and that is what she will have. There will be a wake at Ambruster Chapel in Clayton, MO on the afternoon/evening of Monday, May 14. The funeral will be on Tuesday, May 15 at St. Nicholas, followed by a procession to and service at St. Matthews Cemetery in South St. Louis and a “Makaria” lunch at Spiros Restaurant on Watson Road (see obit in this coming Sunday’s St. Louis Post-Democrat for details and updates). On Saturday afternoon, May 19, we will have a memorial reception at The Mather in Evanston, Illinois for all her (and our) Chicago friends. In lieu of flowers, please consider donating to St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church’s Family Life Center or Philoptochos (“friends of the poor”) Society. If you have thoughts, memories, stories, or photos about mom you’d like to share—and we really hope you do; the more detail the better--please add them as comments below or to the LifePosts page you can link to below. May her memory be eternal. NOTE: In lieu of flowers, please consider contributing in mom's name to St. Nicholas Philoctochos and Family Life Center.To view photos click link: