Three days after Bedford Park resident Kathie Fidis died on Dec. 19, her wake at the John Fox funeral home was packed, standing room only, with family, friends and a gaggle of regulars from Rose’s Luncheonette, the tiny coffee shop Kathie and her husband, Michael, turned into a neighborhood institution.

By all accounts, Kathie Fidis, who died suddenly after falling into a coma at the age of 68, will be missed tremendously.

Though she’s gone, Kathie’s memory will live on at Rose’s, where Michael still mans the worn grill and Anna Bondzolakis continues to serve coffee and toasted bagels with cream cheese and jelly to loyal customers, many students from PS 8 and MS 80.

Leila Glitterman, a longtime friend and customer, says, “It’s impossible to describe how wonderful she was. Whatever words for great there are in the dictionary, put those words down.”

Tony Dubois, who moved to Bedford Park from Georgia, drinks coffee at Rose’s all the time. “A warm, wonderful person, she would always make the best of every situation,” he says.

“She gave good advice,” says Eddie Victorio, 13. He and his friend Mohammed Hussain, 13, attend MS 80. They both said they would miss Kathie, whose smiling picture sits high on the wall in Rose’s.  

Born in Cypress on June 11, 1939, Kathie Kyriakou moved to New York City at the age of 12. She eventually would attend and graduate from Roosevelt High School in the Bronx.

By 16, young Kathie was speaking flawless English, Michael says, and managing a dry cleaning shop on Manhattan’s Upper West Side.

That’s where the two met. One day, on a break from her job at the cleaners, Kathie walked into the nearby coffee shop where Michael, a young Greek immigrant, worked as a short order cook. She ordered a knish, but Michael told her, “No, you should get something else, it would be better for your stomach.” So, he made her an egg sandwich and the two began to hit it off, eventually dating.

They would get married on Nov. 17, 1957 at a Greek church in Chelsea. Two months before she died, Kathie and Michael celebrated their 40th wedding anniversary.

In 1958, the couple had their first child, Christos, and settled in a house on Briggs Avenue in Bedford Park.

Both would open successful businesses in the area; Michael, an electronics repair shop, and Kathie, a clothing store. In 1960, they would have their second child, a daughter, Marina, who died of diabetes seven or eight years ago, Michael says.

In 1991, when his electronic repair shop started losing business, Michael and Kathie decided to buy an old coffee shop, called Rose’s Luncheonette on 204th Street, just off Mosholu Parkway South. The shop was run down and only open for a couple of hours in the morning before the Fidises took it over.

They hired an old friend, Anna Bondzolakis, and turned it into the undisputable neighborhood coffee and lunch spot, famous for its charm and Michael’s grilled cheese sandwiches, which they serve on paper plates.

Now, with the passing of Kathie, there is sadness and bills to pay. Michael, now 73, says he wants to keep the shop open. “We made it what it is,” he says.

Mostly, like all of Rose’s regulars, he will miss his wife.

“I’ll miss a lot of things about her,” Michael says. “Her laughter, her ingenuity. I always stood by her and she always stood by me.” He paused and thought for a while. “It was a challenge, but a good challenge. She was a good mother and a wife. I loved her. She did everything she could for people.”