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At 11 years old, in 1941, little Anna Marakas climbed onto the organ bench in the choir loft at then Assumption Church in Oakland, California, and began to play. 85 years later, she is still playing.
Born in 1930 to parents from Messinia, Greece, Anna grew up immersed in the life of the Assumption Greek Orthodox Church in Oakland, CA. Faith and church were always a part of her life. Her older sister sang in the choir, and, as she recalls with a laugh, “When I was eight, my mother said, ‘You have to go with your sister.’” She has been there ever since.
Her unexpected path to service began when the parish’s regular organists fell ill with the flu. The choir director knew the young Anna was studying piano and asked her to step in–the familiar liturgy was not too difficult for her and she enjoyed playing. Thus, what began as a substitution became a vocation, with Anna serving as church organist for generations.
The parish she first knew as Assumption Church in Oakland, California later relocated and became the Ascension Cathedral in a move to accommodate the increase in families. Through building campaigns, postwar expansion, and immense growth Anna convinced the parish to purchase a pipe organ–a costly and ambitious request, but one that helped define the Cathedral’s musical identity for decades.
Over the years, Anna served under numerous clergy, beginning with Fr. Arsenios Palikaris, an older priest from Greece, and later Fr. George Vlahos, who shepherded the community through its period of great growth following World War II. As veterans returned home and began raising families, the parish grew. Sunday School enrollment reached nearly 700 children; classrooms overflowed into parish halls and Sunday School was taught in temporary school buses parked outside.
“They were trained young men with many dreams and many talents and they were devoted,” Anna says of the returning servicemen. “And it bore fruit in the parish.”
Fr. Tom Paris carried on with the programs and Anna remembers that time with pride and joy as she witnessed the continuing growth and progression of Greek Orthodoxy across the country and specifically in her home parish.
In the United States, the Greek Orthodox Choir Federation of the Western States soon became a powerful force, drawing hundreds of people into church life, becoming what Anna calls “the youth group of the time.” Before basketball leagues and Greek dance troupes, there were choirs, and the choir became a place where everyone in the parish could contribute.
“Not everyone can serve on the parish council or coach a team,” Anna says. “But everyone can sing. It gives people a place to contribute.”
Choir Federation annual gatherings were initiated, bringing together as many as 500 participants. Anna served as music chairman for several years and helped publish the Federation Choral Series, arrangements which remain in use today.
She witnessed and helped shape a blend of Byzantine chant and American choral tradition. She collaborated with composers such as Dr. Frank Desby, Dr. Tikey Zes, Dr. Theodore Bogdanos, and Steven Cardiasmenos, who adapted the original melodies into four-part harmonies while preserving their modal character. This work allowed many to become more connected to the Church as they became involved in choral groups.
Anna’s involvement with National Church Music began in 1953, during a National GOYA Conference. She proposed that its Music Committee publish a liturgical guidebook, which was greatly needed. Dr. Frank Desby assumed the task. In 1976, the National Forum of Greek Orthodox Church Musicians, of which she was a founding member, was chartered by the Archdiocese. The Forum now publishes the Liturgical Guidebook yearly–a resounding success in fulfilling a need of every parish.
Anna notes that the Pascha season remains her favorite to sing. At Ascension Cathedral, traditions developed that reflect the depth of singers’ commitment: on Holy Tuesday, an all-women’s choir chants the service of Kassiani; on Holy Thursday evening, the men chant; Holy Saturday morning brings together the children’s choir. This creative and thematic offering of Holy Week hymnology was conceived by Choir Director Pericles Phillips and the recording remains available for all to enjoy.
For decades, Anna has provided organ accompaniment, sustaining a musical rhythm that has shaped so many generations. Over the decades, she saw priests come and go, bishops elevated, archbishops appointed, and patriarchs enthroned. Through it all, her organ continued to sound.
Among her most clear and vivid memories is an encounter with then-Archbishop Athenagoras before he departed the U.S. to be enthroned as Ecumenical Patriarch in Constantinople. At a large choir conference in San Francisco’s Civic Auditorium, she recalls seeing him not in distant grandness, but rolling up his sleeves to help arrange chairs during rehearsal.
“He was wearing a sweater under his robes,” Anna remembers. “Similar to what my father used to wear.”
The image stayed with her: a towering and imposing church leader serving as an example alongside the faithful. “It is an image I can’t forget,” Anna says. She also has memories of him singing with her parish choir.
Years later, Archbishop Iakovos visited Oakland and conferred upon Anna the Medal of St. Paul, the Archdiocese’s highest lay honor, in recognition of her decades of dedication and her exemplary talent, knowledge and service. The ceremony took place in her own parish, surrounded by the community she had helped shape.
Anna’s life of service has extended well beyond the choir loft.
Trained in bacteriology at the University of California, Berkeley, Anna later completed clinical training at the University of California Medical Center in San Francisco. As head technologist at the Veterans Administration Hospital in Oakland, she supervised 40 laboratory employees. After raising her two sons, she returned to work and contributed to breast cancer research.
Her late husband, Archon Dr. James S. Counelis, to whom she was married to for 50 years before his passing in 2012, was a respected Professor of Education, scholar and author who also contributed to church life. Together they raised two sons–Steven, now a judge, and George, a neurosurgeon–and now boast four grandchildren, all of whom Anna speaks of with great pride. Anna’s musical legacy continues, with one granddaughter singing in the St. Sophia Cathedral choir in Los Angeles while studying at the University of Southern California and one grandson performing at Carnegie Hall with his school choir.
Last August, back surgery forced Anna to step away from the organ bench for the first extended time in more than eight decades. “One day at a time,” Anna says, expressing faith she will return again.
Her mind, however, remains sharp and her voice steady. “I count my blessings and I am happy I have my brain,” Anna reflects. “My body is breaking down a little bit. But I’m still kicking.”
For her parish which has grown and transformed across nearly a century, Anna Counelis has been its living constant—a devoted witness to faith carried forward in music for 85 years.
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