Obituary of Athena Christou, 1988 - Prince George Co. VA Athena Christou Owner of Traveler's Lounge Dundalk, MD - Athena Christou, 72, died Thursday March 24, 1988 at 9:56 A.M. at Johns Hopkins Hospital. Mrs. Tina, as she was known to her patrons, owned Traveler's Lounge, a family restaurant in Dundalk. She was well known in her community where she lived and ran her restaurant for 45 years. Mrs. Christou was born on February 6, 1916 in Tarpon Springs, FL to her immigrant parents Emmanuel S. Maria (Georgakis) Stamatiades who came from a small Greek island called Nisiros. Her parents came to America through Ellis Island and moved to the large Greek community in Tarpon Springs, where she was born and raised. She was one of 9 children. Her mother died young and her father raised the children until the depression hit and then he sent the 3 oldest, which included Athena, to live in Hopewell, Prince George Co, VA with their uncle Nick Stamathis who owned a restaurant there. She frequently traveled between FL and NY to see her family who settled there. On one of these visits to NY, she met her future husband Dimitrios Christou. He was a Greek immigrant from a very small island called Kymi in Euboia, Greece. She and her husband moved to Baltimore in 1943 to find work at Bethlehem Steel. Her husband joined the Army and was stationed in Mass. After serving his tour of duty, they moved to the Dundalk area buying a home and a series of small businesses. They decided on the purchase of a small pumpkin patch across from Ft. Holabird's main gate. which they used to build Traveler's Lounge. The restaurant was named Traveler's because of the many soldiers who frequented the business, who were passing through or stationed at the Ft. Holabird site. After the decease of her husband, Mrs. Tina continued to run the family business herself until her death. Members of her family worked in the business including her 2 oldest grandchildren whom she raised after the death of her eldest son. She was predeceased by her husband, two sons Christos Sr. and Emmanuel Christou I, 4 siblings Kay E. Corcoran, Samuel E., Anthony E., and Nicholas E. Stamathis. She is survived by children Mary A. Belcastro, E. George Christou, and Catherine Francus, and siblings Harry, George, and Danny Stamathis, and Anna Cotsaris, 11 grandchildren and 2 great grandchildren Mark and Tony Romeo. Friends may call at the Matthews Funeral Home on Eastern Ave. Fri. and Sat. from 2 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. Funeral Services as St. Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church on Mon. at 11 A.M. Interment to follow in Oak Lawn Cemetery. Submitted by Christos Christou, Jr. **************************************************************** USGENWEB NOTICE: These electronic pages may NOT be reproduced in any format for profit or presentation by any other organization or persons. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material, must obtain the written consent of the contributor, or the legal representative of the submitter, and contact the listed USGenWeb archivist with proof of this consent. Files may be printed or copied for personal use only. ****************************************************************