The best day of Demetre Kaoukis’ 85-year life came weeks before it ended abruptly when he was hit by an Elite ambulance transport vehicle in Norwood Park.
Surrounded by his wife, four kids, seven grandchildren and several other relatives at his Jefferson Park home on what turned out to be his final birthday earlier this month, Demetre called it the “happiest time of his life.”
“All he cared about was his family,” his son, Pete Kaoukis, said. “He was just crossing the road in the crosswalk coming back from Walgreens and he was just hit and taken from us.”
“It’s so devastating, we can’t even believe it,” Pete, 50, added. “We think it’s a dream, that we’re gonna wake up and he’s gonna be there. We can’t accept it.”
Around 12:50 p.m. Wednesday, Demetre was crossing the street at Nagle Avenue when he was struck by the ambulance van making a left turn on Raven Street, according to traffic crash reports obtained by the Chicago Sun-Times.
He was taken to Lutheran General Hospital in Park Ridge with multiple skull fractures and body injuries, and he was pronounced dead at 7:40 p.m., the Cook County medical examiner’s office said.
The ambulance driver, a 55-year-old woman, stayed on the scene and was given a citation for striking a pedestrian in the road.
An Elite Ambulance location in Orland Park was listed as the owner of the striking vehicle, which was a 2013 Ford van, according to the police report. Elite in Orland Park had no comment when reached by the Sun-Times.
Demetre spent most of his life working as a tailor, starting in Greece when he was about 13 years old. He launched Tower Cleaners and Tailors at 176 E. Walton Pl. in 1992 and ran it for over 20 years before selling the business in 2011, his children said.
Nikki Kaoukis, Demetre’s 35-year-old daughter, worked at her father’s downtown business with him from late 2006 to early 2011. The time they spent going on deliveries and working at the cleaners played a role in their loving relationship, according to Nikki.
“He would tell me about life and just talk about everyday things,” Nikki said. “You don’t realize how special those moments are in the moment. You kind of take them for granted sometimes.”
The 85-year-old always tried to find the good in people and was a man “with such strong morals,” according to his children.
“He was such a peaceful, calm person,” Nikki said. “He was always so good at defusing things.”
“It’s hard not to have that around anymore,” Nikki added. “That’s definitely what we need right now.”
Demetre grew up in Platiana, Greece and immigrated to New York in the late 1960s before coming to Chicago in the early 1970s. He moved back to Greece with this family — this time living in Athens from 1981 to 1992 — before moving back permanently to Chicago where he lived on the North Side.
“He came here with nothing,” Pete said. “By the time he retired, he had made something of himself.”