Mary Sampas

Mary Sampas
Lowell Sun columnist; 93

LOWELL -- Mary (Boutselis) Sampas, age 93, died peacefully Wednesday morning, at Saints Medical Center, after a brief illness. She was surrounded by her loving family and comforted by the music of Frank Sinatra, and the delicate fragrance of Fuji mums, her favorite flowers.

Born in Lowell, she was the daughter of the late John and Eftiheia (Papleacos) Boutselis, and wife of the late Charles G. Sampas, Sun executive news editor and author of the popular "Sampascoopies" column, for whom the Sampas Pavilion is named. He was the love of her life and her soul mate.

She started writing for The Sun while still at Lowell High School, and then wrote for the Evening Leader until her marriage. During World War II, she wrote the weekly "Gal Friday" columns for her husband, which summarized Lowell news and were widely mailed to Lowell servicemen abroad.

Before moving to the Lifestyle section with her "Mary-Go-Round" columns and, later, social correspondent columns, she wrote for 10 years under the pen name "Pertinax". It was a daily column opposite the editorial page covering a wide variety of serious and light subjects. Her columns on her husband's late brother-in-law, Jack Kerouac, are quoted in many books on the writer. For 10 years, she wrote a weekly column on New England-wide Greek-American social activities, also called "Mary-Go-Round", for the Greek Sunday News of Boston. She dictated her last Sun column from the hospital and it appeared on Saturday, January 8th. Some of her Pertinax columns are available on the UMass Lowell e-magazine, "The Bridge Review".

She accompanied her husband, who was covering the President Kennedy-de Gaulle meetings in Paris and the Kennedy-Krushchev meetings in Vienna, and wrote "color" pieces from there and later from Greece, where the then Mrs. Kennedy vacationed. Some of her more popular writings were the New Year poems, light verse in which she gave new year wishes, including scores of Lowell names in the rhyme, her travel reports, vivid reminiscences of stays from Albuquerque to Ireland, Yugoslavia and Italy, from the Isles of Greece to China, Singapore and the islands of the Indian Ocean and her interviews with celebrities and movie stars. Her writing career spanned more than 75 years.

She had an intense and abiding interest in Lowell's cultural activities and served on the boards of many organizations, including the Lowell Art Association, the Community Concerts Association, the Hellenic Culture Society, of which she was a founding member. She was a member and volunteer of the Brush with History Gallery, and was one of the founders and board members of "F.L.I.C.K.S!", a nonprofit society that met bi-weekly for seven years, to enjoy classic and foreign movies in a cabaret setting at the Speare House.

She was a member of the Hellenic Orthodox Church-Holy Trinity and had been a secretary of the Holy Trinity Philoptochos "Elpis" Society, a board member of the Daughters of Penelope, and on the board of the "Fellowship in Israel for Arab-Jewish Youth". She was a member of many organizations, including the Lowell Garden Club, the Greek American Legion, Lowell Historical Society, Lowell Park and Conservation Trust, and Friends of the Pollard Memorial Library. In his first term as governor, Michael Dukakis appointed her to the Commission on the Status of Women.

Outgoing and enthusiastic, she served on scores of fundraising committees and on social functions. She was an early Folk Festival and Regatta Committee volunteer and she delighted in working on campaigns for her favorite candidates. Possessed of a great sense of humor, she was a witty storyteller, and to her own surprise found herself serving as a "roaster" when prominent friends were "roasted" at fundraising events.

She also very much enjoyed recalling the warmth and camaraderie of growing up in a close knit Greek family and community in the Acre section of the city and her frequent visits to the children's library. On a trip there with an older friend who was getting an adult library card, by mistake, Mary was given one, too. Instead of going home, she went directly to the adult section where great literature and exotic locales opened up for her. After reading the works of Somerset Maugham and about the Raffles Hotel, she vowed to go to Singapore one day, sit at the hotel bar he wrote about and sip a sloe gin fizz. A very big dream for a little Acre girl but, as an adult, she did just that. When she related the story to the bartender, the drinks were on the house.

She particularly loved the lyrics of Cole Porter, plays by Noel Coward, the poems of Conrad Aiken and Dorothy Parker, Frank Sinatra's singing, books by Lawrence Durrell, the songs "Autumn Leaves" and "I'll Be Seeing You", and her dogs.

She is survived by her daughter and son-in-law, Marina and Peter Schell; two brothers, Charles "Dino" Boutselis of Lowell, William "Basil" Boutselis and his wife, Judith of Dracut; a sister-in-law, Gloria Ellis of Brunswick, Maine; and many wonderful in-laws, cousins, nieces and nephews; her godchildren, Jonna Holstein of Kernersville, N.C., Joan Mangelli of Manchester, N.H., and Katina Tsongas of Boston; many, many, many friends; and her grandniece and special friend, Sarah Boutselis.

She was the sister of late James Ellis, and Aristides "Ted" Boutselis, and sister-in-law of the late Iris Boutselis.

The family will be forever grateful to her friend and doctor, Roy Maletz.

SAMPAS -- Friends are invited to her calling hours which will be held at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 62 Lewis St., Lowell on Monday from 3 until 8 PM. Her Funeral Service will be held on Tuesday at 10 AM in the church. Interment in Westlawn Cemetery, Lowell. In lieu of flowers, memorial donations may be made in her name to the Hellenic American Academy, 41 Broadway St., Lowell, MA 01854-4295, Pollard Memorial Library, 401 Merrimack St., Lowell, MA 01854, or to the Hellenic Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity 62 Lewis St., Lowell, MA 01854. Arrangements entrusted to the care of DRACUT FUNERAL HOME, 2159 Lakeview Ave., DRACUT. For condolences please visit www.dracutfuneralhome.com.