Eirini's biography
Eirini Sofia Tzioumis was born in Sydney Australia on 23 April 1984, the first-born daughter to Tasso Tzioumis and Leonie Evans. In later years Eirini preferred to be known as Katerina, most often shortened to Kat.The name Eirini is the greek word for "peace", and the English name Irene is derived from this. The name Sofia means "wisdom" in Greek. She was our "peace and wisdom" and she certainly always acted wise beyond her years.
In her middle teens Eirini was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) and unfortunately she had the more aggresive form of progressive MS. She fought that inexorable decline with courage and determination. Finally, she lost that battle and passed away on 7 January 2015, aged just 30 years old.
A more detailed account of Kat's life and work was given in a moving tribute by her mother Leonie presented at her final farewell.
Eirini's study and work
Despite all the health problems Kat lived heartily and never gave up. She achieved in her short time as much as or even more than many achieve in a full lifetime.Photos of Kat's life and work were presented as a slideshow at her farewell.
Kat attended Sydney University and achieved Distinctions and High Distinctions in most of
her courses. When she could no longer attend university she took up artwork at CYI and after that
pottery at Pine street studios.
There is a selection of photos of Kat's artwork and
photos of Kat's pottery.
Kat had a lifelong love of music and started with playing the saxophone. When she could no
longer play she switched to music composition and song-writing.
A selection of Kat's song lyrics is presented here.
A number of Kat's songs and music were recorded by her music friends and the
Kat's song recordings are included here.
Eirini's adventures and travels
Eirini was a very adventurous soul and she particularly loved travel, especially to international destinations. And despite her disabilities she managed to achieve a lot and many examples can be seen in her Photos of Kat's life and work.She was proud of her Greek heritage, studied modern Greek at University and visited Greece and our ancestral village of Kerastari on many occasions.
Among her adventures she counted:
* Sky diving (2 fun dives)
* Harbour bridge absail (assisted by army commandos)
* Water sit-skiing
* Indoor wall climbing
* Camping at Pebbley beach for summer vacations (1993-1996)
Her travel adventures included:
* 1987-1990 Lived in the UK at Congleton, near the Jodrell Bank radio telescope. She started school there.
* 1996 Visited UK at Manchester and London, travelled to France on Eurotunnel and spent a week discovering
Paris. Then spent a month in our Greek village, followed by 3 months in Bologna where she attended the local
Italian high school.
* 1998 Spent 1 year living at Narrabri, on the site of the ATCA radio telescope.
* 1999 Summer vacation in Jindabyne and Snowy mountains.
* 2000 Family travel around Tasmania in a van.
* 2002 Kerastari, Greece for 1st astronomy meeting, followed by a visit to the USA. Visited NY, Gettysburg,
West Virginia (Greenbank), Washington DC (stayed on Pennsylvania Av.and visited the Smithsonian)
and LA (Getty museum)
* 2004 Two-week family trip around NZ. Included a helicopter ride on the glaciers.
* 2005 Family summer trip to WA (Perth, Margaret river, Albany)
* 2007 Kerastari, Greece for 2nd astronomy workshop. Visited Olympia, Epidaurus (night performance of
ancient play), Thessaloniki, Phillip's toomb, Meteora and Delphi.
* 2008 Visit to India. Tour of Jaipur and Agra (Taj Mahal), Delhi, Mumbai and Pune.
Tributes to Eirini and final farewell
A more detailed account of Kat's life and work was given in a moving tribute by her mother Leonie presented at her
final farewell.
This includes a gritty poem on living with progressive MS, written by Kat and her mother, and
titled It's not my fault.
Details of Kat's life celebration and farewell are presented. These include a loving farewell poem written and read by her grand-aunt Yota Krili, titled The Power of Imagination (in English) and (in Greek).
The final farewell was "her Greek song", lovingly sung by her father. This song (Kato sto rema to vathi) was the origin of her name (Eirini) and she often sang it with her father. It talks about a beautiful village girl (Rinoula, diminutive of Eirini) washing at the river, and lovingly describes her beauty. Renditions of this song can be found on YouTube e.g. Rendition 1 or Rendition 2 or Rendition 3.
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