Many of our readers probably know Presbytera Sophia personally. Your lives have overlapped with hers in varying degrees and at varying times. Yet, Sophia is such a multi-faceted lady that even those who know her well will be please to discover a Sophia they have never known.

One could dwell on the person most people – the young woman growing up in Boston, active in so many ways at the Annunciation Cathedral for so many years. One could also dwell on Sophia as a Presbytera, the wife of Fr. Peter Lambert, and his active partner in parish life - and in so many parishes in Michigan, Ohio, and California. One could also dwell on Sophia, the mother, the warm, caring, and nurturing parent of three wonderful children, two sons, and a daughter, Spyridon (Perry), Andrew, and Carrie Eliane. One could focus on her grief as the mother of a son, Andrew, who died tragically at an all too young age from complications of HIV/AIDS. One might also dwell on Sophia, the active participant in the Philanthropia Ministry, and the genius behind their wonderful quarterly newsletters.

Perhaps, one of the many things, which bind all these parts into a single whole, is an essential view of life. Simply put, Sophia elaborates on hers: that deeds are more revealing and authentic than words; that one accepts and engages those things that need to be done without fanfare, complaining or self conceit; that one must take risks in life and not be deterred by anxieties or uncertainties; that before one acts one tries to imagine and evaluate the conswquences, and then makes one's best effort; that one's life is a prayer, one's work is in concert with God as a team working together; that one prays though one's good works (as one of the early church fathers says), one should pray continuously and sometimes even in words.

As a young woman growing up, she was influenced by her maternal grandmother, Sophia Demopoulos, one of the founding members of Philoptochos at Annunciation Cathedral in Boston. Her parish priest for 16 years was later to be named Archbishop - Archbishop Iakovos. Sophia was active in GOYA (she loved youth work); she loved being a Sunday School teacher; for 3 years was religious chairperson at Annunciation Cathedral, active in arranging the weekly Sunday evening vespers. She sang in the Cathedral choir for a period of time, and as a young woman she considered being a nun.

After marrying and assuming the responsibilities of being a wife, a mother, and a presbytera, she also worked outside of the home as a career woman. Indeed, she has worked almost steadily for the last 44 years. For twenty-five years she was employed as an administrator in several medical and/or hospital offices. She has worked in a VA Hospital in Michigan; with Osteopathic physicians in Ohio and Michigan; and for six years with a nephrology group in Van Nuys, CA. There her tenacity and initiative were instrumental in the formation of a dialysis unit at St. Joseph Medical Center in Burbank, CA. She persisted in receiving funding when even the physicians had given up hope of doing so.

More recently, she entered the corporate commercial world working as administrator (then later named president) in a start-up company in Beverly Hills. It was initially called MGA France, and later became known as GUESS ? Jeans. Out of that experience, she started her own import/export retailing company – ARGO N.L.S. International. Athens was chosen as the European site. Because of personnel problems in Greece, the effort did not succeed, but the corporate shell still exists and was owned outright by Sophia. She had some new ideas for the future of the corporation.

After that enterprise, Sophia worked again as an administrator in Sherman Oaks and Tarzana for two plastic surgeons. At the same time, she enrolled at Merit College in Van Nuys to study court reporting, but had to quit because she developed tendonitis in her shoulders. Undaunted, she enrolled at the University of LaVerne, School of Law in Encino/LaVerne and studied to be a paralegal. Sophia completed the Bachelor of Science degree in 1998 with honors.

More recently, she developed a new career working as an independent contractor with a local attorney who specialized in discrimination cases with disabled and handicapped people who are covered by ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act). The attorney is a profoundly humanitarian, as Sophia was, and so they had a harmonious relationship. For both the attorney and Sophia, the work was a labor of love; a labor that arises out of compassion and understanding for physically disables persons who are too often brushed aside, out of sight. Many of the cases are heart breaking.

She was able to devote herself to deeply humanitarian work even while she and her husband had their own health issues. Sophia has both a knee replacement and hip replacement; making walking an ordeal. Father Peter of blessed memory, was blind, totally in one eye and had only minimal visual ability in the other. And their beloved son, Andrew, died tragically at age 33 from AIDS.

It is from Andrew's death more than anything that she has become so vitally involved in this ministry. In her work, she became a confidant and a support to many others – persons who were suffering from AIDS, and for their family members and survivors.

For Sophia, the Ministry, indeed all the work of life, comes from the heart. She observed that learning is a very humbling experience. At the core of her spiritual life is the conviction that the Holy Spirit works through her, and guides her every moment.

Written by Theodore L. McEvoy, Ph.D.

Trisagion service will be on Wednesday, April 19, 2017 at 7:00pm. Funeral service will be on Thursday, April 20, 2017 at 11am, both held at Saint Sophia Greek Orthodox Cathedral, 1324 Normandie Avenue, Los Angeles, CA. Interment will follow at Oakwood Memorial Park, following the Makaria luncheon.

Arrangements under the direction of Chapman Funeral Homes - Terry & Mary Harmon, Funeral Directors. Toll free (855) 628-0447.

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Obituary notice for Chapman Funeral Homes. Please visit www.chapmanfuneraldirectors.com .

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