The Star has received word of the death of Kathryn Karabelas, a gifted gourmet cook “who took the greatest pride in her three children and six grandchildren,” her daughter, Carrie Karabelas of Manhattan and Montauk, said. She expressed her love “through food and entertaining, filling her home with warmth, conversation, and exquisite meals.”
When her children were grown, she worked for six years at Bloomingdale’s in Garden City, and later, having made Montauk her permanent home in 2001, for five years at Suffolk County National Bank here. The ocean, the sunsets, her lush gardens, and living near her family all gave her “great joy,” her daughter said.
Ms. Karabelas died at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital on Sept. 4, six days after a stroke. She was 87.
The daughter of Greek immigrants, Koula and John Pagakis, Ms. Karabelas was born in Lansing, Mich., on March 29, 1938, and grew up speaking fluent Greek, her family said, and working in her parents’ coffee shop. Her years at Michigan State University “ignited her lifelong love of learning.” She “treasured her Sunday New York Times, often savoring it through the week.”
Following her marriage to George Karabelas in 1962, they lived for a time in Jamaica Estates, Queens, and afterward in Lynbrook, while spending summers in Montauk. In 1980, after they divorced, she continued vacationing in Montauk for another seven years, and then, with her partner of the last 35 years, Michael Y. Krauss, in Quogue, where he had a house, from 1990 to 2001. She cherished their winters, starting in 2005, in Naples, Fla., her daughter said.
Her mother’s favorite singer-songwriter, Kris Kristofferson, “provided the soundtrack to many moments of her life,” she added, and “fittingly, his music was playing as she peacefully passed.”
In addition to her daughter and son-in-law, David Yudelson, Ms. Karabelas is survived by two sons, James Karabelas, who, with her daughter-in-law, Nikole Nelson, lives in Savannah, Ga., and John Karabelas of Manhattan and Amagansett, as well as her partner, Mr. Krauss. Her grandchildren are Julius and Kai Yudelson and Alexandra, Damon, Koa, and Kaia Karabelas. She also leaves a sister, Violette Cocoros of Baltimore.
The family has suggested memorial donations to the Montauk Lighthouse at montaukhistoricalsociety.org/donate.
