85. Peacefully in her sleep. That's a good way to go.
Their story
Nancy Hronopoulos of Merrillville, Indiana, died on 17 September 2026 at the age of 85. Born on 12 August 1941, she spent her life in the Greek Orthodox communities of northwest Indiana and became the matriarch of a large Lake County family whose bonds stretched across children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.…
Nancy Hronopoulos of Merrillville, Indiana, died on 17 September 2026 at the age of 85. Born on 12 August 1941, she spent her life in the Greek Orthodox communities of northwest Indiana and became the matriarch of a large Lake County family whose bonds stretched across children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren.
She was predeceased by her husband, Christos Hronopoulos; her mother, Katy Katouzis; her brother, Michael Londakos; and her nephew, Lenny Londakos. She is survived by her children Jim Hronopoulos (Kara), Kathy Kouklakis (Alex), Nikolette Trikich (Danny), Frank Hronopoulos and Maria Wargo (Michael), together with grandchildren and eight great-grandchildren. The published family notice did not catalogue every cousin and in-law, but it made clear that Nancy's world was measured in kitchens, cathedral pews and the everyday care that keeps a clan together.
Those who knew her remembered warmth, thoughtfulness and the quiet reliability of someone who showed up. She was not a public official or a celebrity. Her memorial belongs here because ordinary lives, fully lived, still deserve careful recording: the marriage that ended in widowhood, the brother mourned, the next generations she lived long enough to hold.
Funeral arrangements were entrusted to Geisen Funeral Homes. Visitation was set for Tuesday, 22 September 2026, at 9:30 a.m. at Sts. Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Cathedral on Madison Street in Merrillville, with burial at 10:30 a.m. at Calumet Cemetery on West 73rd Avenue. The cathedral setting mattered. For Greek Orthodox families in the Calumet Region, the parish is often the civic and spiritual center at once, the place where baptisms, weddings and funerals mark a life's arc in the same nave.
In lieu of flowers, the family invited gifts to the Filotimo Foundation. Filotimo is a Greek word that resists tidy translation: honor, pride in doing right, generosity, duty to family and stranger alike. Asking for filotimo in her memory was a final character sketch. It said she had taught, by example, that love is practical and that hospitality is a form of courage.
Nancy Hronopoulos is remembered first as a wife, mother, grandmother and great-grandmother. Her story is the story of Merrillville and Munster tables crowded with plates, of a cathedral community saying goodbye, and of eight great-grandchildren who will hear her name long after the flowers at Calumet Cemetery have faded.
Biography adapted from EchoVita / Geisen Funeral Homes family obituary for Nancy Hronopoulos (Merrillville, IN); Filotimo Foundation donation note..
