Constance Nassikas Hohenadel

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Constance (Kira) Nassikas Hohenadel, 75, of Port Townsend, WA died peacefully on October 27 at Jefferson Medical Center of pulmonary disease with her family at her side. In her final hours, she listened blissfully to her beloved Chopin and Joan Baez, while summoning the energy for a last cup of coffee—black—and a few uproarious laughs. (No cigarettes allowed in the hospital.) All who knew and loved her will miss her theatrical presence, her generous spirit, and as she once said, “the marvelous uniqueness of our life together.”

Daughter of the late John N. Nassikas, a lawyer in Washington, D.C. and former chairman of the Federal Power Commission, and Deena Andreson Nassikas, a broker for Sotheby’s International Realty, Kira was born in Philadelphia and raised in Manchester, N.H. She graduated from Abbot Academy, now Philips Andover in Andover, MA, and pursued her studies at Colby-Sawyer College and Clark University, majoring in philosophy. Even in the weeks leading up to her death in a weakened condition, she was taking notes on scholarly articles and books on subjects ranging from the Middle East and Greek history to herbal supplements and recipes. Her greatest passion, however, was music. A gifted pianist with two grand pianos in her prime, she spent her youth and early adulthood immersed in study of the piano, particularly Bach and Chopin. As an adult, she taught piano lessons primarily to children. In the hours before her death, she moved her hands as if over the keys of the piano, while listening to a nocturne she once had played by heart.

If music was her passion, reading was her avocation. Her extensive collections of books—poetry, literature, history, cultural studies, philosophy, music, cookbooks—attest to her wide-ranging curiosity and intellect. Her books will be donated to local libraries.

Kira is survived by her daughters, Kristin Erica Hohenadel, an international journalist based in Paris; Kimberley Hohenadel, a nurse practitioner specializing in bariatric medicine in Washington, DC.; her sisters, Marcy Nassikas Weathers of Middlebury, VT, and Elizabeth Nassikas Lowery of Guilford, CT; her brother, John Nicholas Nassikas III of McLean, VA; many cousins, nieces, and nephews; and her former husband, John J. Hohenadel, Jr. of Greenwich, CT. She was predeceased by her partner, Daniel Thatcher, also of Port Townsend. The family will celebrate her life in Dunbarton Cemetery, Dunbarton, New Hampshire where her parents and nephew are buried and near the family farm, now the core of the Kimball Pond Conservation Area, where she loved to play as a child. Arrangements have been entrusted to the care of Kosec Funeral Home, 1615 Parkside Drive, Port Townsend, WA. Donations in memory of Kira may be made to Jefferson Medical Center, Port Townsend in honor of the exceptional care provided by the nurses, doctors, social workers, and staff in her last days; or to NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness).