Despina Bezaitis

Our loving mother and grandmother, Despina Bezaitis (nee Valavanis), 89, of Chicago passed away peacefully on March 14, 2024. She was born in Siderokastro, Greece, on December 15, 1934, to Panaiotis and Magdalene Valavanis.

Despina was a resilient woman who immigrated to the US to support her family. She met her husband John in 1963 in Chicago and they were married the following year. Over the course of her life, she maintained a warm home, a beautiful garden, and hosted parties full of food and music.

She loved to be busy, to play games, and to create and her children and grandchildren benefited from these traits. Each will forever remember walks in the Botanic Gardens, cooking with yiayia or enjoying the delicious results, watching her knit a beautiful blanket for a family member or for a newborn she’d never met.

She channeled ambition through her family members, always emphasizing the need to stay positive. Her support for her husband’s career and for her children’s growth was immutable. Her favorite role though truly was as a grandmother. She was enthusiastic to be summoned to help care for the grandchildren whether in Evanston, Illinois or in Portland, Oregon, and to receive them in her home which she did repeatedly for each and every one.

Despina will always be remembered for her warmth and generosity. Her life was organized around her family and closest friends. Her final years included a special relationship with her friend Vildana Hadzalic.

Over the course of her life, Despina worked as a lab technician and real estate agent and was an active member of St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church in Des Plaines, Illinois, and Holy Taxiarhai & St. Haralambos Greek Orthodox Church in Niles, Illinois.

Despina was preceded in death by her husband, John A. Bezaitis, and is survived by her daughter Maria (Jason) of Portland, Oregon, her son Andrew of Evanston, Illinois, and five grandchildren: Katherine Ann, Megan James, Theodore Andreas, John Andrew and Lucas Richard.

Donations in lieu of flowers can be made to Botanic Gardens of Chicago (https://www.chicagobotanic.org/donate/tribute) where Despina spent so much time with her family members and caregivers.

A visitation is scheduled for Saturday March 30, 2024 from 12pm-2pm at Matz Mt. Prospect Funeral Chapel, 410 E. Rand Rd., Mt. Prospect, Illinois 60056. Arrangements by Demeros Funeral and Cremation Services. For information, please call 847-302-7176