Frederika Mitrokostas

Frederika (Skamnelou) Mitrokostas, 84, of South Yarmouth, MA, departed this world peacefully at her home surrounded by her loving family on December 7, 2024. She was predeceased by her beloved husband of 50 years, Konstantinos Mitrokostas.

Frederika was born in Ioannina, Greece, the daughter of the late Vasilios and Alexandra (Avdikou) Skamnelos. Tragedy struck her family when, at the age of 3, Frederika lost her father, a merchant and civilian who was brutally captured and summarily executed by the Nazis in Greece while he was returning home from a business trip. Along with her older brother and two sisters, Frederika was raised by her mother and paternal grandmother. Given their limited economic resources, her mother had no choice but to send Frederika to a girls’ orphanage where she lived from the age of 9 until 13 and attended middle school. She was an excellent student and deeply wanted to go on to high school and university, but her financial circumstances did not permit that to happen. Instead, she decided to apprentice as a hairdresser and attended the L’Oreal hairdressing school in Athens. At the age of 16, she opened her own hairdressing business in Ioannina, which became incredibly successful and allowed her to help support her family and rebuild her family home. She ran the business along with her younger sister Panagiota for over a decade when, in 1968, at the suggestion of one of her clients, she met a man who had returned home from the United States to visit family in Ioannina and who swept her off her feet. She and Kostas were married within a month, and she moved with him permanently to Cape Cod, where she raised three children and lived for the remainder of her life. Together with her husband, Frederika owned and operated the Kream ’N Kone restaurants for 30 years, operating the Chatham location on her own for nearly 20 of those years, until she retired in 1998. In 2004, along with her husband Kostas, she came out of retirement to open yet another business, the "Original Seafood Restaurant" in Dennisport. Frederika also managed several real estate properties she acquired or built on Cape Cod.

In addition to being a successful entrepreneur, Frederika was an incredibly loving and caring wife and mother, and she was devoted to her family. She helped support and send her three children to college and law school, desiring that they have the higher education that she so desperately wanted but could not receive in her youth. In her older years, she loved spending time with her husband, her children and their spouses, and her nine grandchildren on the home she built on Bass River in South Yarmouth. Her grandchildren were the center of her existence, and she doted on them every minute that she could. She loved telling stories and singing to them, and her kitchen was always full of delicious home-cooked Greek food. She invited everyone she met to her home, which was always open and welcoming. She will be missed deeply by her family, who were blessed to have her as a dedicated mother, grandmother, and role model.

Her family would like to thank the caretakers who lived with and cared for Frederika in the last years of her life, especially Mona Abdalla, and all the nurses at VNA of Cape Cod Hospice, particularly Karen Foss, who provided tremendous support, comfort, and care to Frederika and her family toward the end of her life.

Frederika is survived by her loving children, daughter Frances Barrett and her husband Andrew of Milton, MA; daughter Alexandra Chakalis and her husband John of Newton, MA; and son Nicholas Mitrokostas and his wife Claire of Newton, MA; her nine cherished grandchildren, Katharine, Christopher and Victoria Barrett; Evangeline, George and Kostandinos Chakalis; and Constantine, Grace and Alexios Mitrokostas; her sister Panagiota Stoilas of Yarmouth, MA; her sister Eleni Kostoulas and her husband Christos of Ioannina, Greece; her sister-in-law Maria Skamnelou of Ioannina, Greece; and many cousins, nieces and nephews both in the United States and in Greece. She was predeceased by her brother Demetrios Skamnelos of Ioannina, Greece and her brother-in-law Theodoros Stoilas of Yarmouth, MA.

Her services will take place on Tuesday, December 10 at St. George Greek Orthodox Church, 1130 Falmouth Rd., Centerville, MA 02632, with visiting hours at 10 am ET and funeral services at 11 am ET. Burial will immediately follow at Island Pond Cemetery, 13 Island Pond Rd., Harwich, MA 02645.

In lieu of flowers memorial contributions may be made in Frederika’s name to St. George Greek Orthodox Church in Centerville, MA.