Soffia Frangos

Soffia Soter Frangos, also known affectionately by her daughter Danielle as “Little Sugar” or her granddaughter Allison as “Yai” (short for “Yaya”), was a mover and a doer. She was in perpetual motion and she always got things done - on time and beautifully.

Soffia was born and grew up on a farm on Redwood Road in Granger (now part of the Salt Lake City metropolitan area), the oldest of three children of Mike and Bessie Soter. She and her brother Tom would laugh as they regaled their children and grandchildren with life on the farm: caring for the dogs and chickens, cleaning the chicken coop and avoiding their mom following any skirmish that resulted in broken eggs. Except for the occasional goldfish, the Frangos children never had a pet growing up. Soffia told them she was allergic to dogs, but over time her children learned that Soffia had had her fill of caring for animals in her younger years and rightfully figured who would actually be responsible for caring for a pet, and it wasn’t going to be her husband or her children.

Speaking of her husband, Nick Frangos was the love of her life. They met at the wedding of Nick Balifoutis from Cheyenne to Tessie from Salt Lake City and were married a short time later on August 21, 1955. Sophie, as she was known to Nick and many of her friends and family, moved to Cheyenne and began a family. Their oldest and only son Dino was born in September 1956, followed over the next eight years by three daughters, Niki, Danielle and Melody. In 1958 Nick and Soffia moved to Denver where Nick opened the Congress Lounge, a local watering hole frequented both by the movers and shakers of the Colorado political scene and the East Colfax locals living in modest rooms in and around the Newhouse Hotel. While Nick was the frontman of the operation with what Soffia’s son-in-law Garrett calls the “Greek Bartender Personality,” Soffia was the brains. She did the bookkeeping, typed the menus, paid the bills and invested and saved their earnings to send all of their children to college and then on to medical school and law school.

While Nick built his business, Soffia ran the household, which was busy with four active children doing a variety of activities from sports to art to musical instruments, all supported by supermom who managed to get everyone to where they needed to be. Her children grew up knowing they were loved dearly, but the Frangos children weren’t coddled. They were taught to be independent and had chores and summer jobs although the money they earned was saved and invested by Soffia and given to them later to fund things like house down payments.

Supporting her family might have been Soffia’s primary occupation, but with her zest for life and “never sit down” personality, she still had plenty of time to have a full-time job once Melody was in high school and to pursue those things that brought her joy. One summer she sculpted busts of all her children, each of whom had to take their turn sitting still for her. Until she lost her eyesight late in life, she painted with abandon and her house is filled with many of her paintings, which she might change out depending on the season. Soffia also painted greenware and needlepointed everything from pillows to chairs with intricate designs she created herself. Her children and grandchildren are all beneficiaries of Soffia’s artwork and her grandchildren Kendyl and Grady inherited their Yaya’s creativity gene. She loved to cook and entertained friends and family with her beautifully-decorated tables. Soffia also took great pride in working in a woman-owned business where she kept legal and engineering periodicals up to date, a job where her attention to detail and perfection served her well.

Soffia’s volunteer interests also followed her passions. She was a voracious reader and then Mayor McNichols appointed her to sit on the Denver Library Commission, which governs the Denver Public Libraries. She volunteered at the Museum of Natural History (now the Denver Museum of Nature & Science), and her artistic talents can still be found there in a diorama in the North American Indian Cultures exhibition. She spent many years volunteering at La Cache, which generates revenue to benefit Children’s Hospital, and at the Denver Botanic Gardens, which fed her love of gardening. She made many dear friends at both La Cache and the Botanic Gardens.

Soffia was very proud of her Greek Orthodox heritage and was an active participant in church life. She was a member of the church choir in Salt Lake City. She was also a member of the Denver Philoptochos and volunteered at the annual Denver Greek Festival for many years, both baking beforehand and putting in shifts during the festival. Towards the end of her life, robbed of her memory by Alzheimer’s and blind by eye disease, she was calmed by listening to Father Lou’s sermons online and, in her final days, she could still recite the Lord’s Prayer and sing along to songs from the Divine Liturgy.

Although Soffia’s grandchildren appeared on the scene late because her two elder children waited a while before having their own children, Soffia adored and was adored in turn by her eight grandchildren: Katherine, Nicholas and Caroline Frangos; Nicholas and Allison Tuttle and Timmy, Grady and Kendyl McGinnis. She made each of them feel special and the experiences she shared with her grandchildren were tailored to their unique personalities and interests. Soffia loved packing a lunch and taking her in-town grandchildren to the Botanic Gardens for a picnic. She also enjoyed making and decorating birthday cakes. Her grandchildren chose the cake and frosting flavors, and while she started with a cake mix, Soffia added her special ingredient and a lot of love that made her cakes the only birthday cake her grandchildren ever asked to have.

God gave the world a gem when Soffia was born. While never needing or wanting the limelight, she shone in whatever she did and touched all that knew her with her effortless grace and kindness. She was selfless, always putting others first, offering sound and practical advice to the most difficult problems up until the end of her life. Her worldly presence will be sorely missed although we know she is smiling and actually “seeing” us for the first time in years. Her family is comforted by the words of the poet Edwin Markham: “Only the soul that knows the mighty grief can know the mighty rapture. Sorrows come to stretch out spaces in the heart for joy.”

May her memory be eternal.