Kiki’s Corner: A legacy of family, faith and music
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My husband, Francis George Angelos, passed away last Saturday at age 87, after a brief sickness, surrounded by his children, grandchildren and me.
Francis loved his family and did everything he could to make them happy and always to encourage the grandchildren and advise them to do well in school and to be good citizens and good Christians. He always told them to work hard because at the end it pays off. He also emphasized religion to them and that God is the answer. Always before they left our house or when he was talking on the phone with anyone, the last sentence that came out of his mouth was do your prayers and never lose your faith. He had cute nicknames for all his children and grandchildren.
He left this world happy because he accomplished what he wanted and left family representatives in his children George (Neysa) Angelos, Niki (Eddie) Staats and Sophia (Brian) Angelos. He was also so proud of his eight grandchildren: Franklin, Eleni and Calli Angelos, Kiki, Athena and Zoe Staats and Nadia and Ahna Colombo .
Francis retired after 34 years as a band director at Federal Hocking High School in Stewart, Ohio. He was a very devoted band director and loved all his students. So many of them stayed in touch with him up to this day.
With his Federal Hocking High School Lancer marching band, he was expecting perfection and he accomplished so much. One teacher said of him "Angelos doesn't have a firm answer except that maybe it's appropriate for a band director to go out on a high note, and he has been holding the high note for a long time." The reason for that is because he retired at the age of 54.
One year, his Lancers marching band bested 22 of 23 bands from Ohio, West Virginia and Virginia at the festival at Laidley Field in Charleston. Also, they were runners up in the overall competition behind Grand Champion Greenbrier East. The band placed first in the Class AA field competition and first in percussion.
Another year, they took first place at the Ripley Band festival in Class B (bands with less than 100 members) field competition, earning first place in percussion, flag corps and overall in Class B. The band also received honors for field commander and general excellence and placed third runner-up of the 10 bands competing for grand champion status. They also qualified a second time for the OMEA state band finals, marking the first time in the school's history the band qualified more than once in a season for the state event. They were also named overall grand champions at the Bellaire, Ohio, all-America invitational marching band competition.
Francis was named employee of the month for the Federal Hocking Local School District and was nominated because of his interest in students, his high standards of performance and the extra time and effort he gave to the program.
In a three-year period, the band entered 45 contests, competing in classes C, B and A, and placed first in their class in 43 - and second in the other two. Their awards included two grand champion trophies and four runners up.
The band took part in more than 100 competitions in 10 years in Ohio, West Virginia, Michigan and Florida They competed at a McDonald's Christmas parade in downtown Chicago, seven times at Epcot Center in Disney World and field and parade competition in the All-American Music Festival at Orange High School.
Other highlights include the Thanksgiving individual competition in Cobo Hall in Detroit, where the Lancers gained runner-up overall honors, serving as one of two honor bands in the annual Michigan Thanksgiving Day parade in Detroit and winning first place for bands of 100 members or less in the annual holiday Christmas parade in Columbus, outpointing 16 bands.