Stella Kalaris, also known as “Yia Yia’’ to the generations who came each summer to her husband Gus’ ice ball cart on the North Side, died peacefully Wednesday at their home in Brighton Heights. She was 81.

“She was a mother to all of my friends,’’ her younger daughter Christina Avlon said as she sat at the dining room table with her father Wednesday afternoon. “She was the ultimate Greek mother.

“Food was flying all the time. There was always a party at this table.”

When her two daughters got older, and particularly after Gus’ mother, Pauline, died in 1992, she spent more time at the cart that has stood before the tennis courts on West Ohio Street since she was a young girl. As the sign says, it’s been there “since your dad was a lad,’’ and she inherited the title of “Yia Yia,’’ an affectionate name for grandmother in Greece, from her mother-in-law.

Pittsburgh City Council declared April 25, 2012, to be Gus and Yia Yia Day. She was known to thousands for her smile, but Mrs. Kalaris had a back story known by relatively few.

She had been born after two older sisters had died, so her mother named her “Stamata,” Greek for “stop.” Stella was her English name.

She met Gus when both were young. His father, George, had come from the same Greek town as her mother, Panagiota Bistolas, and the families attended Holy Trinity Greek Orthodox Church together. As she and Gus got older, “I sort of started chasing her,’’ he said.

“So did some other guys. I won out.’’

They were married more than 62 years ago, on Valentine’s Day 1954 — “how corny is that?” Mr. Kalaris, 84, asked. They had to get married in the winter because every warm day in Pittsburgh is dedicated to the cart that has dispensed ice balls, peanuts and popcorn on the North Side for 100 years.

Gus’ father bought it in 1934 for $175 from a man who had worked it for 18 years before deciding to move back to Greece. The elder Mr. Kalaris died in 1951 when Gus was just out of high school, and Gus took over the business where he had begun working when he was 8.

When Mrs. Kalaris was 19, their first daughter, Penny, was born. Christina was born when she was 20. The family moved into their brick home in Brighton Heights in 1963 and never left.

That’s where she wanted to stay these past three years as her spinal stenosis and chronic leukemia worsened. The family put a bed in the living room and Gus slept on the couch beside her. Their daughters often came to stay with her, too.

“Where’s Stella?” Gus would often hear in recent summers. “I think people liked her more than they liked me.’’

Along with her husband and daughters, Mrs. Kalaris is survived by her brother, John Bistolas, four grandchildren, two step-grandchildren and three step great-grandchildren.

Friends will be received from 2 to 8 p.m. Friday at Calvary United Methodist Church, 954 Beech Avenue, Pittsburgh. The Trisagion Service, a tradition in the Eastern Orthodox Church, will be conducted at 7 p.m.

The funeral service will be 10 a.m. Saturday at Holy Trinity Orthodox Church, 985 Providence Blvd., Pittsburgh 15237.

The family requests memorial contributions be sent to the Northside Leadership Conference-Scholarship Fund, 2nd Floor, 1319 Allegheny Ave. 15233.

First Published: October 26, 2016, 11:42 p.m.