Athanasios Tsoumpelis

Athanasios Tsoumpelis of Southold died suddenly Nov. 27 at Eastern Long Island Hospital. He was 24.

He was born March 8, 1990, in Bronx, N.Y. to Evangelia (née Trenholm) and David Tsoumpelis and was a graduate of Southold High School. He also attended State University of New York Potsdam for one year and worked briefly at Michelangelo’s of Mattituck as a waiter.

The following was written by his sister Chrysovalantou Tsoumpelis:

“Thanksgiving was his favorite holiday. He loved being with family, he loved food and he loved to laugh. His laugh was amazing, one of my most favorite things about him.

When Souli was a baby, I’m told he was constantly smiling and laughing. I remember him only that way when I was very young. I remember him dancing with me, taking my plastic jewelry away and, when I cried, he pretended to be a pirate and I had to find where he hid the buried treasure. He used to teach me how to cook plastic bread in my Little Tykes oven, and he would sit on me and squish me whenever he had the chance yelling “steamroller!!”.

I saw Souli cry for the first time that I remember when I was about four or five, and crawled up onto his bed and put my head on his lap. He loved rainstorms. I remember when we would stand in the garage together and watch them. We’d ignite under flashes of lightning and we reveled in the symphonies of thunder.

Souli loved to use the word thief, so I would take a pen or whatever little object I could get my tiny hands around and I would run, just so that he would chase after me yelling, “THIEF! THIEF!” He had the most wonderful imagination. He could think of things so original and unheard of that the rest of us would just have to set back and watch.

When Souli put his ideas on paper, the outcome was poetry unlike anything we’ve ever read, stories with endings we never could’ve dreamed. He loved Edgar Allen Poe, and scary stories, and Calvin and Hobbes. As we both grew, I got into some trouble. But if he ever got the inkling that I was being hurt by anyone, he was ready to take up arms and battle.

Souli was a warrior, a Spartan, and I knew I always had him. All of his family knew him as Souli. He was always more than just a brother in my eyes. He was a thief, a pirate, a steamroller, a writer, a Spartan, a warrior. He’s Souli.”

With love you will be remembered always, and we are at ease knowing you now have eternal peace in God’s arms.”

Athansisos is survived by his parents, Evangilia and David Tsoumpelis, his siblings, Joseph Tsoumpelis, Chrysovalantou Tsoumpelis and Alexandra Tsoumpelis, and his grandparents, Irene Kapsis, Letty Tsoumpelis and Athanasios Tsoumpelis.

The family received visitors Dec. 2 at DeFriest-Grattan Funeral Home in Southold. The Divine Liturgy was celebrated on Dec. 3 at St. Isidoros Greek Orthodox Church in Bethpage with Bishop Paul Stratigeas officiating. Interment was in New Bethany Cemetery in Mattituck.

This is a paid notice.