It is with deep sorrow that we share that our beloved mom and grandmother Mina Livanos passed away peacefully this morning.  She is survived by her daughter Marie Livanos Cokkinias, daughter Lynn Livanos Athan (Costa), granddaughter Sophia Athan, grandson Zachary Athan, and sister Patricia Lioulas.

Mina was born on June 13, 1936, in New York City to Leon and Maria Dagiasis. At three, she traveled with her mother to Greece to her village of Stenies, on the island of Andros.  What began as vacation became an almost eight-year struggle as the island was occupied for the duration of World War II. That wartime childhood shaped her, and when she finally returned to the US at eleven, her experience was that of an immigrant. Soon after, her sister Patricia was born in 1947.

Mina learned English, attended Prospect Heights High School, and trained in shorthand and typing to become a secretary. She settled into Brooklyn’s tight-knit Greek expat community, and on frequent trips back to Greece, met Zachary Livanos, whom she married in April 1958.

Their daughter Marie arrived in January 1959. With Zachary’s merchant marine career keeping him away eleven months a year, the young parents made a hard choice: Zachary left the ships, learned English at night school, traded the sea for a factory floor and, later, pursued a career as a ship chandler. Daughter Evelynn (Lynn) followed in May 1966, the same year the family settled in Canarsie, Brooklyn.

After 26 years in Canarsie, Mina and Zachary bought their first home in 1992, in Tarpon Springs, Florida. Mina missed New York, but found a new love in her garden, spending hours nurturing her trees, flowers, and vegetables.

The family kept growing; son-in-law Costa joined in 1998, granddaughter Sophia in 2001, and grandson Zachary in 2006. Yiayia Mina made countless trips to Chicago to read, color, and play with her grandchildren, and she and Papou Zach made the journey north for every holiday they could. Mina never missed an opportunity to celebrate her grandchildren and delighted in sharing news of their achievements with anyone who would listen.

In 2014, the family lost Papou Zachary. Mina stayed in Tarpon Springs, and in 2019 Marie moved in so the two could support each other. They became an inseparable duo, sharing life, meals, and an endless supply of Hallmark Channel movies.

Mina never met an animal she didn’t love. She fostered strays, rescued kittens, and doted on every neighborhood dog that passed by. At the pond behind her house, a menagerie of ducks, herons, turtles, as well as the occasional alligator gathered whenever she appeared outside, and she never left a restaurant without saving leftovers for “her birds.”

Services will be held Thursday, August 13^th, at Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church, 409 S. Old Coachman Road, Clearwater, Florida. Visitation:  10:30 am.  Funeral:  11:00 am.  In lieu of flowers, please consider a donation to any of the following organizations, which were near and dear to Mina’s heart.

www.americanhumane.org American Humane Society 1400 16th Street NW, Suite 360 Washington, DC 20036

www.audobon.org  The National Audubon Society ATTN: Donations 225 Varick Street, 7th floor New York, NY 10014