Konstantina Liakopoulos Hoover

Konstantina Liakopoulos Hoover, 64, passed away on December 29, 2024 after a long fight with a rare neurodegenerative disease called MSA, Multiple System Atrophy. Her immediate family were able to honor many of her final wishes, including contact with estranged relatives, favorite foods, and family holidays.

Konnie was born on February 3, 1960, in the middle of a snowy Chicago winter, to Frances Alma Brickle and Pantelis “Leo” Theodores Liakopoulos. Konnie grew up with three brothers, Theodores “Ted”, Thomas “Tom”, and Peter “Pete”, as well as her stepmother Eleanor “Ellie”, who married Leo after Frances passed away.

With her passing, Konnie has reunited with both of her parents, as well as her brother Ted. She is survived by her three children, Michael, Marjorie, and Elie; her partner of over 20 years David; her brothers Pete and Tom; her stepmother Ellie; and her four grandchildren, Braydon Michael, Keadon Voin, Sepherah Rose, and Acynikah Lisabeth.

She met David Henderson as a teen, and in 1977 the two quickly married and welcomed a son, Michael. This early pregnancy, marriage, and eventual divorce set the cast for her adult life, forming her into (to borrow her words) “a tough broad.” She hustled hard to keep food on the table, but also got involved in political action in Chicago, fighting for housing rights and campaigning for the city’s first black mayor, Harold Washington. Some years later, she moved to the bay area of California, met and married John Hoover in 1991, and birthed her two daughters Marjorie and Ellen in 1991 and 1992. She relocated in 1993 with the whole family up to Oregon, eventually moving into Portland proper in 2002 following her second divorce. In 2004, she met David Maclaine, who she would call her “best love,” and stayed with him through the end of her life.

She held careers ranging from administrative to car sales and large account office equipment outside sales, working for the architectural collective Skidmore Owings and Merrill, and later Taylormade Office Supplies.

She had strong passions for gardening, cooking, and bird-watching, and she nursed many crafting hobbies. She also notoriously had quite a blue sense of humor, and a penchant for oversharing with any- and everyone who would listen. For better or worse, each of her children has inherited at least some of these qualities.

She cared deeply for her family, for her Greek Orthodox faith and heritage, and for all her fellow humans. She struggled a great deal with physical and mental health over the years, which had a huge effect on her life. Still, this “tough broad” fought until the bitter end — even when many doctors predicted that her end would come much sooner than it did. And through it all, she worked hard to maintain that gentle compassion and kindness.

To honor her memory, we recommend putting on a crime procedural, eating kalamata olives straight out of the jar, and befriending your neighbors — especially those in need.

There will be a Trisagion prayer service at 7pm on 1/13 at her church, Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral. Her funeral will be held the following morning 1/14 at 11am, also at Holy Trinity. Both of those ceremonies will be formal and traditional and all are welcome.

These will be followed on the same day, 1/14, by a shorter, less formal burial service at River View Cemetery at 1pm.