Maria P. Katsilometes

After 95 years of a life filled with a variety of adventures, Maria Katsilometes, 95, died in her home on Nov. 25, 2025 of natural causes.

Maria immigrated to the United States from Greece in the early 1950s originally going to California before relocating to Pocatello, where her mother, father and brother had all immigrated. Her initial reaction to Pocatello was not favorable as she arrived in February 1955 to find cold weather and snow.

Somewhere along the way, her Uncle Steve Cacavas, told her he had just the guy for her. Uncle Steve described him as the nicest, hardest working “Greek boy” in Pocatello. He drove her out to a ranch south of town where he pointed out her future husband Jim, who was in a field moving irrigation pipes. After a short courtship, Jim and Maria were married on July 24, 1955, at Pocatello’s Greek Orthodox Church. After the wedding, Jim and Maria were blessed with three children, Anastasia in 1957, George in 1958 and Tom in 1964. About the time Tom was born, Jim and Maria built their dream home which Maria designed and decorated and continued to live in for 61 years, still happily living in it until her death.

Maria always put her family first and considered it the most important thing in her life, always making sure her family had everything it needed to be comfortable. Because Jim was off working most of the time when George and Anastasia were growing up, Greek was the primary language in the home until the two started elementary school. The children picked up English, but Maria kept her accent and spoke broken but understandable English. As the kids would often joke, “she still sounds like she just got off the boat from Greece”. Maria’s other passions were cooking, flowers and her church. She was an unbelievable cook. Anyone who had the chance to have a dinner she prepared would still talking about it years later not only because of the outstanding taste but also because of the immense portions she served. Think of Thanksgiving meals on steroids. Of course, she always followed these colossal meals with a variety of handmade deserts. She also gave her children’s teachers Greek pastries for Christmas gifts. Another passion were her flowers. Even this year, she attended to her miniature roses in front of her house and was so prideful when a passerby commented on them. Some of her other favorite flowers were peonies, dahlias, clematis and zinnias. To top it all off, years ago, she planted irises in her back yard and coordinated them in sections where a different color would bloom at a different time. For her efforts, she once was awarded the Golden Arrow Award from the Pocatello Chamber of Commerce. She was also an exceptional seamstress, sewing beautiful and elegant outfits for herself and her daughter.

Her other passion was her church. A longtime member of the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, Maria and Jim spent many hours working for the Church. Maria was president of the Philoptohos Society (Friends of the Poor) several times. She spearheaded the creation of a highly successful Greek cookbook put together by the Philoptohos Society in the late 1960s where she spent countless hours going to local businesses to secure advertising to help finance the cookbook. She was chairwoman of the Greek Festival several times. She was also instrumental in decorating the Church Hall for the festivals.

Besides her love of immediate family, Maria was also close with many relatives. Uncle Steve was a frequent visitor when the kids were young and she grew close to another Uncle, Tom Cacavas and his wife, Lu. She and Jim often took Uncle Tom and Lu for Sunday drives and when Tom passed away, she took Aunt Lu shopping every week. Probably her favorite relative was her Aunt Oreta Karmeres, who was instrumental in getting Maria to come to the United States. The two had a very close bond until Oreta’s death. Maria also had a deep devotion to her brother John. Maria was also an animal lover who had dogs (Eric, Napolean and Josephine) while the kids were growing up before switching to cats. Her last pet was a cat named Morfoula, who died the day before Maria. Prior to her, Maria had two other cats, Haffy and Kryios.

Maria and Jim were a team that together purchased the Rockin J’ Apartments on South 4th in the early 1970s until eventually selling them to retire. She had a good business sense even though she really didn’t have a great deal of formal education.

One of the things that always bothered her was war. Regardless of conflict, she always opposed wars stating in Greek “they’re killing someone else’s children.” This view came when she was a young girl in Greece and the Greek Civil War erupted right after World War II. As a young girl, her aunt disclosed that Maria was in a room where people were being shot and killed. Her mother begged for her daughter’s life fearing they were going to eventually kill her as well. It was also during this time that Maria got an infection in her leg and because there was no medicine, a heated metal object was used to release the infection, leaving a large indentation on her leg. Maria always kept her sense of humor. In her last couple of years, while struggling to remember something, she’s point to her head and say “it’s on vacation.”

Over the years Maria was a member of the Pocatello Music Society and Symphony Guild, always alluding to how nice the other woman in the community treated her. She also liked to attend ISU football games and even went to this year’s homecoming game. She is also thankful for the help she received, being able to live in her home for the last four years. These women simply added to Maria’s life and Tanji, Donna, Jeanene, Jasmyn, Annika and Lena, became more friends than caregivers.

A battler until the end, Maria was diagnosed with cancer three different times and was placed and then discharged from Hospice four years ago. It was at this time that the family had actually planned out her funeral, which was put on hold for four years. Maria is survived by her three children. Anna Speros (John) of California, George (Gina) of Pocatello and Tom (Kathy) of Boise. She is also survived by her four grandchildren, Peter Speros, California; Jim Katsilometes, Washington; James Speros, California and Orie Katsilometes, Pocatello. She is preceded in death by numerous aunts and uncles, her brother John and sister Kathryn and her beloved Jim.

The Trisagion service is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday, Dec. 5th at Wilks Colonial Chapel, 2005 S. 4th Ave. Pocatello, Idaho. Funeral services are at noon Saturday, Dec. 6th at the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church, 518 N. 5th Ave. in Pocatello, Idaho with the Mercy Meal following the Graveside, at the Orthodox Center, formerly the church hall, located next door to the church.

In lieu of flowers, the family asks that donations be made to the Greek Orthodox Church, P.O. Box 4567, Pocatello, Idaho 83205 in Maria’s memory.