Etta J. Christopoulos

Etta J. Christopoulos, 99, of Mason City died Saturday, October 28, 2006 at the IOOF Home. Funeral services for Etta will be held 10:30 AM Thursday (November 2, 2006) at the Major Erickson Funeral Home, 111 N. Pennsylvania Ave. with the Rev. Kathy Graves officiating. Interment will be in Elmwood-St. Joseph?s Cemetery. Visitation will be held 4:00 to 6:00 PM Wednesday (November 1, 2006) at Major Erickson Funeral Home. Memorials may be directed to Telephone Reassurance, Meals on Wheels, and Hospice of North Iowa. Etta Josephine Bysong was born to Beatrice (Kelsey) and Max Bysong, October 10, 1907 in rural Fayette County, Iowa, where the family lived during her childhood years except for a year in Canada. As a young woman she worked in Marquette, IA and from there moved to Charles City where she met Harry Christopoulos. They were married on August 14, 1929 after he returned from a six month visit to his family in Greece. During their fifty-two years together they often wondered how it could be possible that they each found their lifetime love when one of them was born in a country half way around the world from the other. Harry started his Sweet Shop and News Stand in 1929 and Etta worked there with him for several years before they closed the forty year old business in June 1970. The fountain, popcorn machine and other furnishings were donated to the Kinney-Pioneer Museum, where they are still enjoyed and appreciated by many. Etta?s wish for her legacy was that her life and how she lived it would speak for itself. Surely that wish will be granted as her family, friends and acquaintances recall ways in which she touched their lives with her thoughtfulness, gracious manner, warm smile, stimulating conversation, caring heart, beautiful handwriting, and ?green thumb?. She was very appreciative of the loving care-givers at the IOOF Home, as well as of the services provided by Telephone Reassurance, Meals on Wheels, and Hospice, thus suggested that donations be forwarded to any of them in her memory. Survivors include her daughter, Elaine Bennett of Mason City; two sisters-in-law, Mrs. Julie Bysong of Durand, WI, and Mrs. Anna Burns of Dryden, Ontario, Canada; her attentive niece, Mrs. Bonnie Jolly of St. Paul, MN; and several other nieces and nephews in the U.S. and Greece. Etta was preceded in death by her parents; her husband, Harry, in 1982; her brothers Frank and Fred Bysong; her sister, Edna Davis Stephens; and two sons-in-law, William (Bill) Mahone and James (Jim) Bennett Sr.

Visitation:
4:00 PM to 6:00 PM at 111 N. Pennsylvania Avenue on November 1, 2006 (map/driving directions) 2:00 PM to 2:00 PM at 111 N. Pennsylvania Avenue on October 30, 2006 (map/driving directions)

Service:
10:30 AM at 111 N. Pennsylvania Avenue on November 2, 2006 (map/driving directions)