Page 54 - Wallingford Magazine Issue 56 Autumn 2025

CELEBRATE WALLINGFORD!
CELEBRATE WALLINGFORD!

Maria Mitchell
Maria Mitchell

Celebrated

100th Birthday!

by Angela Mitchell
Maria Mitchell was born on Lesvos, Greece, and learned
to stitch life together early—first as the village dress-
maker in tiny Napi (population 175), and, in dark years,
by hiding in caves when Nazis and Turks threatened. She
left the island for Canada in 1960, entered the United
States in 1961, and became a U.S. citizen that same year.

In 1965 she married Michael Mitchell, mothered two
step-children, and spent forty steady years on Wood-
house Avenue in Wallingford. By day she was a seam-
stress at Feldman on North Cherry Street—twenty-sev-
en years of careful hems and dependable work. At home,
her hands moved just as surely: crochet, knitting, nee- Family keeps the thread unbroken: a step-daughter, Angela;
dlework, then the garden where vegetables thrived. grandchildren Michael Mitchell and Mari-Angli Mitchell; a
sister in Greece; and her nephew, Bill Michael, in Meriden.
She ate the way she lived—fresh and joyful—vegetables, fruit, Today Maria resides at Meriden Complete Care in Meriden,
and the pastries Greek women adore. Her specialty was finik- CT—still bright, still patient, still making care feel hand-sewn.
ya: orange-juice dough rolled into little cylinders, finished with
Orthodox Church, candles and hymn lines anchoring the week. Cheers to her!!!
honey and walnuts. Sundays found her at Saint Barbara Greek

54 WALLINGFORD MAGAZINE - AUTUMN 2025