In Memoriam : Joyce Hagiparis (Final Expenses)

On August 28th, 2020 a house fire took the life of my 86 year old grandmother, Joyce Hagiparis. As a child I spent every weekend staying in her home where she shared her love of reading with me, introducing me to new stories before I went to sleep. She also loved history, arts & crafts, and ceramics. At her advanced age she was beginning to show some signs of mental decline so my mother and I had already began discussing what would come next after her passing - but we could never have imagined this would be the tragic circumstances of her final day. In the devastating aftermath we discovered that her last will & testament, insurance papers, banking information, and many other important documents may have been lost in the fire. We are currently doing our best to recover any of this information to aid us in our ability to afford her final expenses but this makes things much more difficult than expected. Her son Gregory (my uncle) survived the fire and lost all of his possessions as well, so we are also going need to find him a new home.

I understand that 2020 has been a very difficult year for most of us, and like many others this year we were forced to close our business down in March. As our business is in the heavily affected restaurant & bar industry, the difficulty has been compounded by the various and often-changing regulations for coronavirus safety. Its future remains uncertain as of this writing. Therefore, my mother and I have already been living within a very tight budget this year and this tragedy has only made things more dire.

We know many are hurting right now, but if you have the ability to contribute even a small amount it would greatly help to finalize the necessary arrangements for my Grandma. Thank you for reading, and may the rest of your year be peaceful and safe.

(local news coverage : https://tinyurl.com/yxoaowh5)

- Christopher Muether