Helen Hayes' Obituary
Helen Pupulidy Hayes Popham, born on July 28, 1915 to Greek immigrant parents, Anna and Fotis Pupulidy, in Connecticut, passed away peacefully on June 30, 2015, just 29 days from celebrating her 100th birthday. Helen was pre-deceased by her siblings: brother Emmanuel 1919-1996 and her sister Mary (1917-1956).
Helen will always be remembered as a valued local artist and teacher. While still a teenager she took morning classes in High School and then caught the Long Island Railroad into New York City for art lessons in the afternoon. She devoted her life to the study of art. Helen graduated from the McDowell School of Design in New York City. Her interests later turned to the study of fine art and painting in oils. She also studied at the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, the Art Students’ League of New York and the Parsons School of Fine Art.
In 1940 Helen married George Hayes (1907-1985). Helen married Leonard Popham in 1993. When Leonard passed away in 2001, Helen moved to Newnan to live with her recently widowed daughter, Gail Ericsson. In Newnan, she continued teaching art classes in her daughter’s home. In mid-2014 Helen moved to Wesley Woods of Newnan and Peachtree City.
Retiring to Florida in the early 1970s she became of member of the Venice Area Art League and the Sarasota Art Association and began teaching art in her home studio. In 2002 she became a member of the Newnan Art Association and in 2003 she became a member of SFOFA in Fayetteville. She has been featured on the Nulink Channel and in the local newspaper, the Newnan Times Herald quite a few times as well as a featured artist in the Newnan Times Herald’s quarterly magazine. She was thrilled and grateful when the Newnan Coweta Art Association hosted a One Woman Show in 2010 in honor of her 95th birthday and of receiving an award for her continuing efforts in art by the Newnan Art Association.
In addition, Helen will be remembered as a co-author, in association with the ladies of St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church on Long Island, New York, of one of the first Greek recipe cookbooks. Helen was always an active and devoted member of all the churches she attended. Her early years were dedicated to helping build and design St. Paul’s Greek Orthodox Church on Long Island, NY. In the 1970s she helped found and build St. Barbara Greek Orthodox Church in Sarasota, FL, and for the last dozen years she was a charter member of St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox Church in Peachtree City, GA.
Helen is survived by her son, Thomas Hayes and his wife Janet Reale, who live in Phoenix, AZ; her widowed daughter Anna Gail Galatea Ericsson who lives in Newnan, GA; her grandchildren John Paul Ericsson and his wife Michele who live in Denver, CO; her granddaughter, Helen Elizabeth “Beth” and her husband Philip Napolitano, and her great grandchildren, Paula Michelle, and Michael Anthony who live in Bluffton, SC. She is also survived by her sister-in-law Doris Pupulidy and her nieces Leslie Findley of Ohio and Susan Castonguay and her husband Paul and daughter Jesse who live in Florida; her only nephew from her first husband’s side, Michael Pavlides and his wife Marie who live in Maryland and their daughters, Dimitria, Christina and Adrianna; and her step-daughter Susan and her husband Donald Moore who live in the Virginia, and their children, Steven and Amy.
Helen’s family was in awe of her endless energy and hard work ethic. Age never stopped Helen, who always helped other artists refine their talents and be rewarded for their work. Helen believed that to pursue art was a lifetime ambition. The family asks that in lieu of flowers, donations be made to the St. Christopher Hellenic Orthodox Church - Building Fund, 313 Dividend Blvd., Peachtree City, GA.
There will be a graveside service on Monday, July 6th, 2015 at 2:00 PM at Gulf Pines Memorial Park 2401 Englewood Road, Englewood, Florida. Memories and condolences may be left online at www.sunset-fh.com.
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