Royal bucket woman was always helping others

If you ever traveled down 600 South, you probably saw her. She walked the streets of Salt Lake City's Central City with a bucket full of tools and plumbing wrenches, fixing rental units and helping families. Even with her bucket, there was an air of royalty about her. She was sophisticated and always proper.

Last week, we said a final goodbye to a quiet saint in our community, Katina Kyremes. She was almost 95 years old. Born in Greece, she came to America as a young bride and always carried her heritage with pride. She was one of those giants in our community who are overlooked by the mainstream media and civic groups. She was not a joiner, but rather a doer. She shied away from publicity, but like many immigrants she had a sense of duty to give to her community.

The Central City Community Center is located where it is largely because of her generosity — on the corner of 600 South and 300 East. A two-third federal HUD and one-third local matching grant funded the center. Mrs. Kyremes (I always felt I had to refer to her as "Mrs.") donated two parcels of land where the center was built that helped make it possible. She tried to do it quietly, but the word got out. When we first began organizing the Central City community in 1965, she started attending Community Action Program organizing meetings in the old Sumner School. It was across the street from where the center is now located. Mrs. Kyremes started out in the background but later took on a quiet leadership role.

The Central City Center was not built without a struggle. There were those in City Hall who did not believe in taking federal money, those that did not see the need for it, and a few who had the usual question, "Where is the money going to come from?" So, a few brave and committed neighborhood souls, Mrs. Kyremes among them, started planning meetings in the first Community Action office, which was an old boarded-up mansion located on the corner of 800 South and Denver Street. We had cleanup campaigns, voter registration marches, and finally packed City Council meetings with all kinds of people from the neighborhood to gain city support. Mrs. Kyremes was always there.

While organizing in Central City, I frequently stopped by to "collaborate" with Mrs. Kyremes as to our next move. Her home was located on 500 East between 500 and 600 South. The big benefit was having her coffee and baklava.

At her viewing, I talked with her neighbor who said Mrs. Kyremes loved tending his children. She would frequently sit in her rocking chair giving his young child coffee with milk in a bottle. His kids loved her and could hardly wait to have her coffee.