Leah Holevas Stoupenos “Despoinis”

Leah Holevas Stoupenos, 82, December 31, 1941-September 26, 2024. Beloved wife, mother, grandmother, sister, aunt, godmother, friend and Greek school teacher. Her students lovingly refer to her as “Despoinis”.
Out of need, Mom migrated from her birthplace of Greece in 1952, alone on a ship, at the young age of 10. She lived with her uncle and his wife in Brooklyn, New York to begin a new life and help her family that she left behind in Greece. She eventually brought her sister, brother and mother to Savannah.
After high school, she attended St. Basil’s Academy in Garrison, New York. In 1962, she accepted a job at St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church in Savannah, Georgia, where she was a member for 62 years, serving as the church secretary and Greek school teacher for 8 years. After having her 3 children, she worked at Candler Hospital for 18 years as an EKG technician. In 1984, she convinced our dad to purchase Christy’s Department Store on Tybee Island. She worked there for several years until she was diagnosed with scleroderma.
Over her last 62 years of living in Savannah, mom volunteered at our church’s Greek festival making gyros and overseeing the production of baklava. It’s no secret that she was a wonderful cook! Her passion in life was gardening, plants, and flowers. Every flower in her garden brought her joy, and she loved sharing their beauty with friends and strangers. She loved cooking, traveling to Greece (especially to her village of Neohori, Nafpaktias), telling stories, water aerobics, helping the needy, her cats, but most of all her family. “Family comes first” and “I’m going to live until I die” were the mottos she lived by.
She is preceded in death by her favorite child Paul, and her husband Marion. She is survived by her 2 daughters, Loukia Stoupenos Tsiaras (Vasilis), Viki Stoupenos, grandson Vangeli Tsiaras, brother Tom Holevas, sister Kelli Holevas, and their beloved children - her nieces and nephews.
Visitation will be Tuesday, October 1st at 6:00 p.m. with a Trisagion service following at 7:00 p.m. at St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church.
Funeral service will be Wednesday, October 2nd at 11:00 a.m. at St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church, with burial to follow in Greenwich Cemetery.
Donations can be made to the St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church- Renovation Fund in Savannah, Georgia or St. Basil’s Academy in Garrison, New York.