Born to George and Artemis (Polykandriotis) Papadopoulos in Palio Falrio Geece in 1925, she was the 4th of 7 children who all have preceded her in death: Penelope (Poppie) , Irene (Rena), Spyros, Euthemia (Effie), Demitri (Jimmy) and Vasilios (Billy).
Their childhood in Greece was a time of happiness, living by the port and spending time on the water with their father who was a Merchant Marine Captain.
Rocked by WWII, the Germans torpedoed her father’s ship, killing him and her brother Spyros who was first mate. For the remainder of the German occupation of Greece, the Nazi’s quartered in their home and threatened the family.
After the war, as the communist invaded Greece, Eugenia realized there was little hope for a happy life in Greece. As a young 28 year old single woman, she immigrated to Canada and was trained as a dietician. Eight months later, she moved to New York City and work in diners. Shortly after that, she brought her brother Jimmy and sister Rena to New York from Greece. Together, they bought and ran diners in the city during the late 50’s and mid 60’s. The diners included The Artemis on 34th Street and the Gallery near the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
She married and had two children, Spryos and Artemis (Conner). In the mid 70’s the family returned to Greece only to be abandoned and estranged by her husband.
Her tremendous strength of will enabled her to bring her children back to New York. As a 55 year old, single mom, she worked several jobs to support her children.
She and her daughter had an extremely close relationship, sharing their apartment Washington Heights and Forest Hills, Queens. When Artemis married Michael Conner, Eugenia came to live with them in Tampa, Florida. She found the greatest joy of her life seeing her grandchildren, William (Bill) and Eugenia (Evie) born and being with them daily.
Even though suffering with declining health and Alzheimer’s, she remained at her daughter’s home in the constant care of Artemis and her caregivers, especially Josephina Quetel.
Throughout her life, she was a faithful Christian, trusting in the Lord’s promises. When she was healthy, she would regularly worship at the Greek Orthodox church.
Visitation will be held on Sunday, April 7th from 5pm to 7pm with a Trisagion Service at 6pm at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church, 2418 W Swann Ave Tampa FL 33609. A funeral service will be held on Monday, April 8th at 10:30am at St. John the Baptist Greek Orthodox Church. Interment will take place at a later date at Flushing Cemetery in Flushing, NY.
