Gianopulos, head of prominent LV family, dies at 100

Friday, Oct. 25, 2002 | 9:36 a.m.

Helen Gianopulos left her native Greek isle homeland of Crete as a teenager, but she never forgot her language or her culture.

She spent nearly a century preserving the traditions of her native land, including keeping a garden in Las Vegas where she grew her own olives, lemons, basil and vegetables to prepare authentic Greek dishes.

Elene "Helen" Sapsakis Gianopulos, the matriarch of a prominent Las Vegas Greek-American family that includes businessman Dimitrios "Jim" Shetakis and Chrisanthi "Goldie" Moran, her children, died Saturday in her sleep at her Las Vegas home. She was 100.

Services for the Las Vegas resident of 30 years were Thursday at St. John Greek Orthodox Church. Burial was in Paradise Memorial Gardens.

"Among many other things, I will miss the olives she would cure for me from the olive trees we planted in her yard," said grandson and Las Vegas attorney John Moran Jr., son of Goldie and late Sheriff John Moran.

Gianopulos processed olives until she was 95 years old. She toiled in her rose garden until she was 98, her family said.

Despite her advanced years, Gianopulos would dig the rocks out of her garden by hand and would haul loads of small rocks and gravel in a wheelbarrow to a nearby lot where the Heritage Square condominiums now stand at Harmon Avenue and Topaz Street.

"I think our yia yia's incredibly long, productive life was attributable to her positive outlook, sense of humor and lots of good olive oil," said granddaughter Stephanie Christie of New York City.

Gianopulos said her secret for longevity was the daily consumption of a single glass of red wine.

Born Elene Sapsakis on St. Valentine's Day, 1902, at Aerinos, Crete, she was sent to the United States at age 18 for an arranged marriage to Wyoming coal miner Harry Shetakis, with whom she had three children, including Jim, who today owns the Shetakis food distribution company in Las Vegas, and Goldie.

Harry Shetakis died in a 1929 mining accident. Two years later, Helen married Louis Gianopulos. The couple moved to Modesto, Calif., in 1933, where he worked for an auto wrecking business and she worked for the Suzie Belle Cannery on the famed Cannery Row. They had one child.

Louis died in 1968 and Helen moved to San Jose before settling in Las Vegas in 1972.

Gianopulos was long active in the Greek Orthodox Church. She exercised daily, her family said, and cultivated her garden in the tradition of her Mediterranean upbringing. Her garden included two olive trees and a lemon tree.

Although Gianopulos spoke English most of her life, she amazed her family by occasionally speaking to them in fluent Greek in her final years.

She was a member of the Ladies of Philoptochos and the Creatan Club.

In addition to her son and daughter, Gianopulos is survived by 11 grandchildren, 10 great-grandchildren and numerous nieces and nephews throughout the United States and in Greece.

She was preceded in death by two daughters, Mariyo "Mary" Shetakis Gianokos and Georgia Gianopulos Christie.