Lillian A. (Vangel) Ladoulis

Lillian A. Ladoulis 

January 3, 1932 – October 19, 2021

On Tuesday, October 19, 2021, Lillian A.  Ladoulis, loving wife, mother, aunt, grandmother, friend and colleague passed away at Sherrill House in Jamaica Plain at the age of 89. Lillian was born in Boston and was the second of three children born to Albanian immigrant parents. She graduated from Jamaica Plain High School in 1949 and received a Bachelor of Science in Business Education from the College of Practical Arts and Letters at Boston University in 1953. She was predeceased in 2020 by her husband of 65 years Steven T. Ladoulis whom she met as an undergraduate at Boston University. They raised their three children in Jamaica Plain and later Brookline.

She was a passionate teacher of English as a Second Language, primarily to adult and young adult learners. When her children were young she taught ESL evening classes through Brookline Adult Education and beginning in 1967 she taught a variety of ESL classes to adults from all over the world at the English Language Center in Boston until its closure in 1981. In the 1980s, she taught at Katherine Gibbs School for a couple of years, took a short term teaching position at Deer Island prison, and eventually took a position at Showa Institute in Jamaica Plain when it opened in 1988 teaching there for over 20 years. At Showa, she had the honor of leading English and American studies classes to young Japanese women visiting from Showa University in Japan.  

Many will remember that she was a wonderful cook and a perfect hostess! Over the years she held elaborate dinner parties for family, friends, and students. The table was always adorned with beautiful tablecloths and napkins, the good china and polished silverware were set out, and the many candles were lit. Regardless of the occasion, these meals were always festive and certainly delicious!

Lillian will fondly be remembered for the loving attention she paid to those around her. It has become apparent that we all thought we were her favorite. She had a gift for listening, providing positive encouragement, and for remembering the important goings on in the lives of family and friends. She was kind and gentle with quiet fortitude and inner wisdom. She is to be credited with holding her family together over the years through the good times and the hard times, and everything in between. She wanted only the best for those around her.

Lillian was preceded in death by her parents Sotir and Margaret Vangel, her older brother Ernest Vangel and her younger brother Louis Vangel. Lillian is survived by her children and their families; Andrea Ladoulis of Brookline, Marisa Likhite, husband Alec and their children Hazel and Ged of Arlington, and Theodore Ladoulis, wife Brenda and their children Sebastian and Isabel of Norfolk. She was predeceased by her sister-in-laws Beatrice (Ladoulis) Angel and Demetra Ladoulis Yianilos and their husbands and survived by her brother-in-laws William Ladoulis and Charles Ladoulis and their wives as well as numerous nieces, nephews and their extended families.

Her children are especially grateful to her caregivers at Sherrill House in Jamaica Plain who provided loving care and attention to her during these past two years. And during her last weeks of life, they are grateful to the interventions of the hospice staff of Good Shepherd Community Care for providing additional comfort and support measures in her final days.

If you wish, the family asks donations to be made in her memory to Sherrill House, 135 S. Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02130 or online at: www.sherrillhouse.org/donate,   or to Good Shepherd Community Care, 160 Wells Avenue, Newton, MA 02459 or online at: https://gscommunitycare.org/ 

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