Susan Kirages

Susan (Sue) Marie Kirages, age 92, passed away on March 7, 2025. Sue was born in Titusville, Pennsylvania on May 20, 1932 to parents James and Katherine (Trahanas) Duliakas who previously immigrated from Greece. Sue was the eldest of five siblings; preceding her in death were brothers Chris, Tom, and Gus; her brother Nick survives and resides in Titusville.

Sue’s father bought her an art set at the age of 7, which set the foundation for a lifetime of artistic creativity. Her high school art teacher Jack Bonnet gave her a medal for her demonstrated talent, further instilling confidence in Sue that she had a future involving the arts. She graduated Titusville High School in May 1950. Throughout her life Sue continued to pass time creating hundreds of art pieces in oils, acrylics, and water colors under her chosen artist name “Tanya”, a loose translation of her given Greek name. She frequently displayed her pieces in local festival art shows, occasionally receiving awards for her submissions.

Sue may be best known for designing the City of Tipton flag during the 1976 U.S. Bicentennial. She won a contest among 43 entries, and her design can still be seen today on city street signs, City of Tipton Street Department vehicles and the “Welcome to Tipton Park” entrance. At right is a picture of Sue recently visiting the Mayor’s office to see the historical display of the flag’s creation.

Besides art, Sue also made ceramics for many years. She was also the self-appointed “family photographer” (always with camera in hand) and created numerous poster board sized photo collages for family and special events, many of which might impress even the most critical Where’s Waldo fan!

In her younger days, Sue had belonged to Phi Beta Psi and Theta Delta sororities, participated in ladies bowling leagues, and enjoyed playing bridge with couples and ladies groups which carried on into her later years. Her latest past time involved assembling jigsaw puzzles and mounting the finished product to backing boards for continued enjoyment.

Preceding her in death in 2021 was her husband of 65 years, George Kirages. They were married in 1956 in Titusville. Their first child, Tom was born in South Bend in 1957, shortly before the family returned to Tipton to assist in managing the operation of Tom’s Cafeteria family business. Their second son, Jim was born in 1958 in Tipton. Sue and George continued to operate the cafeteria in the community for nearly 40 years. The building is now home to Second Blessing Thrift Store.

Sue and George were members of the Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Cathedral in Carmel. For years they looked forward to the annual Greek Festival in Indianapolis (now in Carmel) where they volunteered their time “stirring” the Galaktoboureko (a Greek custard pastry) in preparation for sale in the wildly popular dessert section of the festival.

Sue is survived by sons Tom (Beatrice) Kirages, Jim (Tami) Kirages, grandsons Tyler Kirages (Makenzie Davies), Drew Kirages, and granddaughters Anastasia Kirages and Katherine (Robbie) Kirages Gordon.

A private service was held at Young-Nichols Funeral Home, followed by a burial service at Fairview Cemetery with family and close friends on Friday, March 14. Funeral rites were conducted by Fr. Gregory Hohnholt of the Greek Orthodox Cathedral. The family is very appreciative for the numerous personal visits Fr. Gregroy made to Tipton over the past few years to provide spiritual support.

The family would also like to pay special thanks to all the nurses, doctors, social workers, and caregivers providing amazing family support and attending to Sue’s health over the past several months, including the IU Health Tipton Hospital, Ascension St. Vincent Heart Center, Copper Trace Assisted Living Center, Carmel Health and Living Community, and the Paradigm Health Hospice Care Organization.

Most importantly, much appreciation to all the family, friends and neighbors that were able to visit Sue. The love shown meant a lot to the family as well as Sue. The family is requesting in lieu of flowers to make donations to their favorite charity in the name of Sue.