2013 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother –
Niki Psiharis
Details
National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother Niki Psiharis.
(Photo: Royal Canadian Legion)
(Photo: Royal Canadian Legion)
Details
Their Excellencies the Right Honourable David Johnston, Governor General and Commander-in-Chief of Canada, and Mrs. Sharon Johnston, attended the National Remembrance Day Ceremony at the National War Memorial, in Ottawa on Monday, November 11, 2013.
(© Her Majesty The Queen in Right of Canada represented by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General of Canada (OSGG), 2013.
Photo credit: Sgt Ronald Duchesne, Rideau Hall, 2013.
Reproduced with the permission of the OSGG, 2014.)
(Photo: © Her Majesty The Queen in Right of Canada represented by the Office of the Secretary to the Governor General of Canada (OSGG), 2013.)
Mrs. Niki Psiharis, of Laval, was the 2013 National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mother and the sixth mother from Québec to be named by the Royal Canadian Legion. During the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa on November 11, 2013, she laid a wreath at the base of the National War Memorial on behalf of all mothers who have lost a child in military service to Canada.
On June 20, 2007, her youngest son, Sergeant Chris Karigiannis, was killed when an improvised explosive device struck his vehicle approximately 40 kilometers west of Kandahar City, Afghanistan—less than two months before his scheduled return home.
Despite her terrible loss, Mrs. Psiharis has maintained a positive outlook and has been an exemplary citizen, committed to engaging youth in remembrance. Since 2009, Mrs. Psiharis has accompanied students, from her son’s former high school to the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa and is the driving force behind having these same students completing more than 100,000 volunteer hours in the community.
Mrs. Psiharis was born in a village of less than 200 people outside of Kalamata, Greece, and married Anastasios Karigiannis when she was 18. They immigrated to Montréal, Québec, in 1968 and had three sons–Peter, Spiro and Chris. In 1990, she was widowed when her husband succumbed to cancer, leaving her to raise three teenaged sons on her own.
Mrs. Psiharis worked in the textile and building maintenance industries, retiring in 2001.
List of National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers
(Information courtesy of the Royal Canadian Legion, Canadian War Museum and families of the National Memorial (Silver) Cross Mothers)
2010 - Present
| Year | Name | City/Town |
|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Mrs. Gloria Hooper | St. Claude, Manitoba |
| 2022 | Mrs. Candy Greff | Lacombe, Alberta |
| 2021 | Mrs. Josée Simard | Les Mechins, Quebec |
| 2020 | Mrs. Debra Sullivan | Saint John, New Brunswick |
| 2019 | Mrs. Reine Samson Dawe | St-Prosper, Québec |
| 2018 | Mrs. Anita Cenerini | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| 2017 | Mrs. Diana Abel | Brampton, Ontario |
| 2016 | Mrs. Colleen Fitzpatrick | Prince George, British Columbia |
| 2015 | Mrs. Sheila Anderson | Yellowknife, Northwest Territories |
| 2014 | Mrs. Gisèle Michaud | Edmundston, New Brunswick |
| 2013 | Mrs. Niki Psiharis | Laval, Quebec |
| 2012 | Mrs. Roxanne Priede | Grand Forks, British Columbia |
| 2011 | Mrs. Patricia Braun | Raymore, Saskatchewan |
| 2010 | Mrs. Mabel Girouard | Bathurst, New Brunswick |
1990 - 2009
| Year | Name | City/Town |
|---|---|---|
| 2009 | Mrs. Della Marie Morley | East Saint Paul, Manitoba |
| 2008 | Mrs. Avril Dianna Stachnik | Waskatenau, Alberta |
| 2007 | Mrs. Wilhelmina Beerenfenger-Koehler | Embrun, Ontario |
| 2006 | Mrs. Alice Murphy | Conception Harbour, Newfoundland |
| 2005 | Mrs. Claire Léger | Stittsville, Ontario |
| 2004 | Mrs. Agatha Dyer | Montreal, Québec |
| 2003 | Mrs. Charlotte Lynn Smith | Tatamagouche, Nova Scotia |
| 2002 | Mrs. Doreen Coolen | Hubbards, Nova Scotia |
| 2001 | Mrs. Ina Galvin | Bolton centre, Québec |
| 2000 | Mrs. Carol Isfeld | Courtenay, British Columbia |
| 1999 | Mrs. Loyola Helen Park | London, Ontario |
| 1998 | Mrs. Anna Zuk (Prygroski) | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
| 1997 | Mrs. Alice Taylor | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1996 | Mrs. Margaret Langille | River John, Nova Scotia |
| 1995 | Mrs. Elsie Wells | Edmonton, Alberta |
| 1994 | Mrs. Wilhelmina Baerr | Yorkton, Saskatchewan |
| 1993 | Mrs. Isabella Hutchings | St. John’s, Newfoundland |
| 1992 | Mrs. Ida Orser | Hartland, New Brunswick |
| 1991 | Mrs. Alice Taylor | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1990 | Mrs. Elsie Pearce | Trenton, Ontario |
1970 - 1989
| Year | Name | City/Town |
|---|---|---|
| 1989 | Mrs. Rachel Morin | Rimouski, Quebec |
| 1988 | Mrs. Hazel Driscoll | Halifax, Nova Scotia |
| 1987 | Mrs. Secondina Di Persio | Sydney Mines, Nova Scotia |
| 1986 | Mrs. Mabel Bateman | Richmond Hill, Ontario |
| 1985 | Mrs. Rose Bernst | Thunder Bay, Ontario |
| 1984 | Mrs. Olive (Rumball) Hunter | Summerland, British Columbia |
| 1983 | Mrs. Constance Wylie | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| 1982 | Mrs. Janet Fraser | Debert, Nova Scotia |
| 1981 | Mrs. Isabel Harrison | Bury, Quebec |
| 1980 | Mrs. Greta Steeves | Elgin, Albert County, New Brunswick |
| 1979 | Mrs. Eliza Beatty | Carlyle, Saskatchewan |
| 1978 | Mrs. Janet Cantley | Montreal, Quebec |
| 1977 | Mrs. Mary Boutilier | Niagara Falls, Ontario |
| 1976 | Mrs. Olive Rae (Jubb) | Victoria, British Columbia |
| 1975 | Mrs. Alta Wilkinson | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1974 | Mrs. Annie Margaret Rudd | Stettler, Alberta |
| 1973 | Mrs. Margaret Santo | Bender, Saskatchewan |
| 1972 | Mrs. Mary Louise McLeod | Neyaashiinigmiing, Chippewas of Nawash Unceded First Nation |
| 1971 | Mrs. Mary Anderson | Selkirk, Manitoba |
| 1970 | Mrs. Mary Josephine Meech | North Sydney, Nova Scotia |
1950 - 1969
| Year | Name | City/Town |
|---|---|---|
| 1969 | Mrs. Wilhemina Gray | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| 1968 | Mrs. Pearl Rich | Vancouver, British Columbia |
| 1967 | Mrs. Elsie Adams | St. Catharines, Ontario |
| 1966 | Mrs. Josephine Stephens | Toronto, Ontario |
| 1965 | Mrs. Nora Wagner | Teeterville, Ontario |
| 1964 | Mrs. Bernadette Rivait | Windsor, Ontario |
| 1963 | Mrs. Mary E. Stodgell | Norwood, Manitoba |
| 1962 | Mrs. Vitaline Lanteigne | Caraquet, New Brunswick |
| 1961 | Mrs. Sylvia Kimmel | Mission City, British Columbia |
| 1960 | Mrs. Julienne Cantin | McCreary, Manitoba |
| 1959 | Mrs. Dagnie Asta Anderson | Craigmyle, Alberta |
| 1958 | Mrs. Helen Forestell | Coniston, Ontario |
| 1957 | Mrs. Zylpha MacFarlane | Truro, Nova Scotia |
| 1956 | Mrs. Gertrude Edna Reynolds | Chatham, Ontario |
| 1955 | Mrs. Regina Leboldus | Vibank, Saskatchewan |
| 1954 | Mrs. Margaret Heeney | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1953 | Mrs. Mary Casey | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1952 | Mrs. Hannah McCann | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1951 | Mrs. Alice Rochon | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1950 | Mrs. Susan Beasley | Ottawa, Ontario |
1936 - 1949
| Year | Name | City/Town |
|---|---|---|
| 1949 | Mrs. Aline D'Aoust | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1948 | Mrs. Catherine Helen MacDonald | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1947 | Mrs. Martha Labarge | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1944 - 1946 | Mrs. Jessie Isobel McCleery | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1943 | Mrs. Edith Louisa Coldrey | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1942 | Mrs. Sarah Wilkins Lamplough | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1937 - 1941 | Mrs. Catherine Lewis | Ottawa, Ontario |
| 1936 | Mrs. Charlotte Susan Wood | Winnipeg, Manitoba |
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