Ophelia Georgiev Roop

Ophelia Georgiev Roop, most recently of Indianapolis, died on May 18, 2026. She was born on January 3, 1946, in Kyustendil, Bulgaria as the first child of V. Rev. Boris and Raina Georgiev. Even under the darkening clouds of the Bulgarian communist government, her christening was a large and joyful event for her family and friends, celebrated with a roasted baby lamb.

After finishing her first year at the Kyustendil gymnasium in 1961, Ophelia moved with her parents to Indianapolis where her father started a position as priest of St Stephen Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox church.

Moving to a vastly different country during her teenage years was not easy for Ophelia. But she persevered and found her happy niche when she went to Indiana University, Bloomington, where she joined the Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority and enjoyed the pulse of those times. She graduated with a degree in Russian.

Ophelia was a true book lover. Although she had job offers for using her Russian degree, she started her career in the Indianapolis public library system. Eventually, she obtained a master’s degree in library science and became a library director, running the large St Bernadino Library, in St Bernadino, California. During her library career, Ophelia published many book reviews in library publications and organized visiting speaker events, including those featuring writers Norman Mailer and Dan Wakefield.

Ophelia was a great Bulgarian patriot. She used her library research skills to research and write works on Bulgaria, including a section in the Indiana Historical Society book, Peopling Indiana, about the Bulgarian/Macedonian immigrant community in Indiana. One or her last unfinished projects was work about a Bulgarian female leader of a “Cheta” (a rebel group) fighting against the Ottoman domination of Bulgaria and Macedonia.

In 1973 she married Edward Roop of Indianapolis from whom she was later divorced. But the most important and joyful event of her life was the birth of her son, Zachary, in 1984, whom she adored and loved with all her heart and soul. Her son, family and friends will always remember Ophelia as an ethereal beauty, a loving mother, and a scholar.

Ophelia’s father, V. Rev. Boris Georgiev and mother, Raina Gorgiev, predeceased her.

She is survived by her son, Zachary Roop, of CA, her sister and brother-in-law, Lilia and Steve Judson of Indianapolis, nephew with family, and cousins.

Funeral services will be officiated by Fr. Dimitur Angelou of St. Stephen Bulgarian Eastern Orthodox Church. 

Visitation will be held from 2PM-4PM with funeral services to begin at 4PM on Tuesday, May 26, 2026 all held at Aaron Ruben Nelson Mortuary, 11411 North Michigan Road, Zionsville, IN 46077. 

Arrangements entrusted to Aaron Ruben Nelson Mortuary.